( I ( Ml 











t\A-?^'M 



'r-^ 



''-':^jr% 



A,* ^y 



y P^ 









^"^I/IK^^U-^ 









wlT^'? 













p*j^'^ 






orFici it r>o%-A.xioN'. 






tf,"^ T 






.J 



^^'^.>^^: 









-^^-f^^^^l 






^^m^^ri^j*^;^ 



3, -ic 



WISCONSIN STATE HISTORICAL LIBRARY BUILDING 

MEMORIAL VOLUME 




a M 






W q 



THE 

STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF WISCONSIN 



Exercises at the Dedication of its New Building, October 19, 1900; together with 

a Description of the Building, Accounts of the Several Libraries 

contained therein, and a Brief History of the Society 



EniTEn BY 

REUBEN GOLD THWAITES 

Secrc/ary mid Sii t>cri iiU-ndfiil of llu- Sociely 



nDcinorial IPoluinc 



MADISON 

DERIOCRAT PRINTING COMPANY, STATE PRINTER 

I9OI 



FEB 1 1902 
D.0fD« 



CONTENTS 



Board of Building Cojijiissionkks 
conteactoks and subuontractoks . 



THE DEDICATION CEREMONIES 

Bynm — Mari/ M. Adn)ii.s ...... 

Report of Exercises — Tlie Editor ..... 

The luvoeatiou — James Dark' Butler .... 

President's Address — John Jolinstov .... 

A Word from the Builders — James H. Stout, President of the Conuuission 

The State and the Society —Edward Scofield, Governor of Wisconsin 

The I'niversity and the Society — Charles Kendall Adams, President of the State University 

The Society — Beuben Gold Thwaitcs ...... 

Greetings from Sister Historical Societies— CTa)-?f,s Francis Adams, President of Massachusetts 
Historical Society . . . ' ' .■■) -iJ. , ." ' 

Greetings from Sister Libraries — James Kendall Hosmer, Librarian of Minneapolis Public Library 

On the Teaching of History — Andrew Ciinninrjham MeLauf/hliii, of Michigan University 

Dedication Address, "The Sifted Grain and the Grain Sifters" — Charles Fraiieis Adam 



MISCELLANEOUS 
A Description of the Building — r//c Bf^iYo)- ...... 

A Brief History of the Wisconsin Historical .Society- 77(r /'Jf/y/or 

The Work of the Society — T/fc Editor ...... 

The Library of the University of Wisconsin— Walter 3Ie3Ii/iiii Smilli, Librarian 

The Library of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters— William l/irhni llohhs 

What Distinguished Librarians Think of the Building .... 

Index — James Ale.raialcr Robertson .... 



81 
i)5 

10:") 

111 
1I.J 
117 



(vii) 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



PORTRAITS 

Charles Fi-auois Adams, LL. D., president of Massachusetts Historical Society 
Charles Kendall Adams, LL. D., president of University of Wisconsin 
American Library Association, upon steps of east terrace of the building 
Prof. James Davie Butler, LL. D. . . . . . 

Alfred C. Clas, of Perry & Clas, architects . . ' . 

Lyman Copeland Draper, LL. D., first secretary of the Society, 1S54-1SSC 

Daniel Steele Durrie, first librarian of the Society, 1850-1S92 

George B. Ferry, of Perry & Clas, architects 

James Kendall Hosmer, LL. D., librarian of Jlinneapolis Public Library 

John Johust(m, president of the Society .... 

Andrew C. McLaughlin, professor of history in the University of Michi 
Edward Scofield, governor of Wisconsin .... 

James H. Stout, president of Board of Building Commissioners . 



19 
117 
7 
83 
21 
101 
83 
29 
9 
33 
15 
13 



EXTERIOR VIEWS 
As seen from the capitol, showing relation to neighboring University building 
As seen from the University gymnasium .... 
The east facade, from the lower campus of the University 
The east front, from northeast corner of terrace, on Langdon street 
A winter scene, looking north, along east terrace 
The south elevation, showing depth of building, from front to rear 
A rear view, from corner of State and Park streets 
The east loggia, looking north, towards opening from periodical room 
Tlie main entrance, facing lower campus of the State University 



70 
17 

front ispiece 
12 
04 
32 
24 
OS 
42 



INTERIOR VIEWS 

Vestibule, main entrance ...... 

Delivery room, looking southward, from University Library counter 
Delivery room, looking south, towards Society's counter . 
General reading room ....... 

In the periodical room, showing stack .... 

Periodical room, general ^•iew. looking south 

A book stack floor ....... 

In the newspaper stack ....... 

Visitors' balcony: genealogical and art libraries within the railing 
Librarian Bradley's office ...... 

The German seminary ....... 

In the museimi, looking eastward, through the north gallery 
In the museum, looking eastward, through the south g;illery 
Ethnological department of the museum .... 

The Society's library in 1853: case in the niuseuni 

(viii) 



36 

89 
90 
91 
100 
94 
78. 93 
31 
111, lis 
95 



ILLUSTIiATIONS 



ARCHITECTURAL DETAILS 



Thf skrli'ton (if the Imildiiii;-: linistiiie' a. fcii-tcin licaiii, liy clectvie erane 
TIr' builders at work: carvers cuttint;' lions' heads, over east entrance 
A window: showing stone earvinn' .... 
Carved stone oval, east loggia ..... 
A glance upward : carved rosettes upon ceiling of east loggi 
The reading-room ceiling, showing panels of art glass 
A door in general reading I'oom .... 

A stairway, leading from third floor to museum floor 
An electric-light bracket 

The passenger elevator, as seen from the flrst-floor corridor 
Passenger elevator, upon the second floor 
A corridor bench 

A bulletin board, upon-flrst floor corridor 

Printers' marks in mosaic pavement, first floor: William Caxton (1489),Melchior Lotter (1491 

Aldus Manutus (1502), Jehan Prellon (1540 oO), the Elzivirs (1620), and Riverside Press 

Floor plans: Basement 

First floor 

Second floor 

Third floor 

Fourth floor 



1536), 



14 
116 
121 
99 
97 
104 
112 
109 
62 
90 
56 
114 

82 
84 
85 
86 

87 
88 



(ix) 



BOARD OF BUILDING COMMISSIONERS 

(Acting under the Laws of Wisconsin — for ISflS. Chap. 298; for 1897, Chaps. 237, 293; for 1899, Chap, 296) 



COMMISSIONERS 
(In order of appointment) ,^.=; , 

Bcjjrcsciitiiuj St(rte Historical Societi/ — 

Lucius Fairchild, Madison (Died May 23, 1806) 

Reuben G. Thwaites, Madison 

George B. Burrows, Madison 

William F. Vila.s, Madison (succeeded Commissioner Fairoliild) 

Bepresenting State Unirersity Begents — 
Charles K. Adams, Madison 
George H. Noyes, Milwaukee 

Frank Challoner, Osbkosh (Died January 11, 1899) 

Orlando E. Clark, Appleton (succeeded Commissioner Challoner; term as Regent expired 1901) 
James C. Kerwin, Neenah (succeeded Commissioner Clark) 

Appointed hy Governor Upham — 

James H. Stout, Menomonie 
Frank L. Fraser, Lake Beulali 
LuciEX S. Hanks, Madison 

OFFICERS OF THE BOARD 

President — Commissioner Stout 

Vice-President — Commissioner Hanks 

Executive Committee — Commissioners St(mt, Hanks, Thwaites, Adams, Fraser, and (in 1901, succeeding 

Adams) Burrows 
Finance Co»/)H(«e(? — Commissioners Hanks. Yilas, Adams, and (iu 1901, succeeding Adams) Burrows 



Secretary — Isaac S. Bradley, Madison 

Architects — Geovg,e. B. Ferry and Alfred C. Clas, Milwaukee 

Designer of Electrical Equipment — Francis W. Grant, New York 

Superintendent of Construction — T. C. McCarthy, July 10, 1S90 to Feliruary 11, 1897: Francis W. Grant, 

September 13, 1897 to September 20, 1900 
Inspector of Steel — Pittsburg Testing Laboratory (limited), Pittsburg 
Consulting Engineers (University of Wisconsin) —Prof. Storm Bull, heating apparatus; Prof. Dugald C. 

Jackson, electrical equipment; Dean J. B. Johnson, steel framing 



(s) 



CONTRACTORS UPON THE BUILDING 



Prelimixarv Masonry (south half of basement and first floor), 1S9G-07 — Thomas R. Bentley, Milwaukee 
General Contractor (completion of Imililins), lS97-f 900 — Harry Johnson, Omaha 

Siihcontractors: 

Bedford Stone — Consolidated Stone Company, Chicago 

Brick — David Stephens, Madison 

Structural steel — Carnegie Steel Company, Pittsburg, Pa. 

Fire-proof floors — Empire Fire-proofing Company, Chicago 

Metal work — Roberts Architectural & Ornamental Iron Company, St. Paul, Minn. 

Metal work — King & Walker, Madison 

Galvanized iron work — Hoffman & Bauer, Milwaukee 

Metal lath — Youngstown Steel Roofing Supply Company, Youngstown, Ohio 

Lumber — Chicago Lumber Company, Omaha 

Adamant plaster — Adamant Manufacturing Company, Milwaukee 

Ornamental plaster — Hohenstein & Jamieson, Chicago 

Sheet metal and sky lights — Stephenson & Studemann, Madison 

Mill work — Interior Woodwork Company, Milwaukee 

Mill work — Starck Manufacturing Company, Madison 

Marble work — Grant Marble Company, Milwaukee 

Mosaic floors — Venetian Mosaic Company, Detroit 

Hardware — Phillip Gross Hardware Company, Milwaukee 

Plate and leaded glass — Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company, Chicago 

Painting and glazing — Pollard & Taber, Madison 

Plumbing — W. H. Halsey, Milwaukee 

Plumbing fl.xtures — Rundle-Spence Manufacturing Company, Milwaukee 

Boiler — Charles B. Kruse Heating Company, Milwaukee 

Heating apparatus — The Mueller Company, Milwaukee 

Heat regulation — Johnson Electric Service Company, Milwaukee 

Ele<-tric work — Julius Andrae & Sons Company, Milwaukee 
Retaining Wall — T. C. McCarthy, Madison 
Stone Carving — Joseph Dux, Chicago 

Steel Book-Shelving — Art Metal Construction Company, Jamestown, N. Y. 

General Fteniture (cases, tables, special equipment) — Matthews Bros. Manufacturing Co., Milwaukee 
Siihcontractor : 

Catalogue cases and trucks — Library Bureau, (Jhicago 
Chairs — A. H. Andrews Company, Chicago 
Subcontractor: 

J. S. Ford, Johnson & Company, Chicago 
Cork Carpets, Rugs, and Shades — Gimbel Brothers, Milwaukee 
Elevators and Elevator Grilles — Otis Elevator ('ompany, Chicago 
Electric Fixtures — George H. Wheelock & Company, South Bend, Ind. 
Siilico)itractor: 

The Oxley Enos Company, New York City 
(xi) 



WISCONSIN STATE HISTOBICAL LIBRABY BUILDING 

Electric Lamps — Sbelbj- Electric Company, Shelby, Ohio 
Electric Meters — General Electric Company, Schenectady, N. Y. 
Eadiator Shields — Monash-Younker Company, Chicago 
Steam-pipe Coverixg — Manville Covering Company, Mihvaukee 
House Telephones — Strowger Automatic Teleplioue Exchange, Cliicago 
Clocks —William J. Gamm, Madison 

Sithcontractor: 

Automatic Electric Clock Companj'. Chicago 
Signs — Breitwisch & Wuuderlich, Milwaukee 

Window- and Door-Screens — Wilier Manufacturing Company, Milwaukee 
Awnings — Gallagher Tent and Awning Company, Madison 
Granolithic Walks, Grading, Sodding, and Driveway — J. W. Mitchell, Madison 

Suhcontraetor: 

Grading and sodding — James S. Grady, Madison 




THE SKELETON OF THE BUILDING 
Hoisting a ten-ton steel beam into place, by electric crane. From photograph taken in 1898. 



(xii) 



THE DEDICATION CEREMONIES 



HYMN 



FOR THE OPENING OF THE WISCONSIN STATE 
HISTORICAL LIBRARY BUILDING 



Glory to Thee, God, ;iiid praise. 
For all Thy servants here have wrought; 

The fairest building- man can raise 
Is but the SYm))ol of Thy thought. 



2 



We do not come as those who pray 
To Presence long unseen, unknown; 

This place hath found Tlie,^ day by day, 
We reap this lumr what Thou liast sown. 



Thy light is here! Lord God, we ask. 
The toiler's right its gift to share; 

Secure to our appointed task. 
Some witness of the Builders' care. 



So shall this saered temple stand 
The treasure of a noble State; 
And all the good Thy wisdom planned, 
Man's labor into Life translate. 

— Mary M. Adams 
Madison, Wis., October, I'.tUO. 



(3) 



EXERCISES AT THE DEDICATION 



r T'W'i^ o'clock in tlie afternoon of Friday, October ninetecntli, 1000, an audience of 
nine liuiidrcd ])ci'sons, comprising members of the Society, state ofticei-s, and mem- 
bers of the legishiture, members of the instructional force of the State University and 
other educational institutions in Wisconsin, together with invited guests from outside 
the state, gathered in the general reading room of the new library and museum building of 
the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, to fittingly dedicate the structure to public use. 
The Hon. .John .Johnston, of Milwaukee, in'esident of the Society, occupied the chair. 




Where the dedicatory exercises 



GENERAL READING ROOM 

held. The stage was upon the left-hand 

the east loggia. 

(•1) 



ide. in front of do 



:>peninK into 



WISroX.siX .STATE IIISTOBICAL LIBEAL'Y BUILDING 

After an invocation l)y Prof. James Davie lUitler, LL. D., of Madison, one of the oldest 
members of the Society, tlie president dehvered an address. Succeeding this, were l)rief 
addresses as follows : 

A Wovd fvom the Bnililevs — The Hon. James H. Stout, President of the Board of BuiUling- Com- 
missioners. 

The State and th? Society — The Hon. Edward Scotield, G-overnor of Wisconsin. 

The Pniversity and the Society — Charles Kendall Adams, LL. D., President of the University of 
Wisconsin. 

The Society — Penben (iolil Thwaites, Secretary and Superintendent. 

Greetings fi-om Sister Historical Societies — The Hon. Charles Francis Adams, LL. D., President of 
the Massachusetts Historical Society. 

Greetings from Sister Libvaries — Prof. .Tames Kendall Hosmer, LL. D., Librarian of the Minneapolis 
Puldic I_jil>rary. 

On the Teacliing of llisti)ry— Prof. Andrew Cuunin.o-h:un Mcljaughlin, of tlie University of Michigan, 
Chairman of the American Historical Association's Committee of Seven on the Teaching of History in 
Secondary Schools. 

Between the addres.se.s hy Senator Stout and Governor Scofield, a double ciuartette of 
State University students (Messrs. A. ('. I{;]dnian, .1. W. Mc(;ilhs, Philip Spooner, II. S. Peter- 
son, P. A. Kolb, K. Pv. Williams, V. V. Ireland, and L. P. Rosenheimer), under the charge 
of Prof. F. A. Pai'kei', director (if tlie University School of Music, sang the Dedication 
Hymn, wi'itten liy Mrs. Charles Kendall Adams, which had been set to music by Professor 
i'arker. They also sang a seleelion lietwcen tlie addrcssi'S by the Hon. Charles Francis Adams 
and Pnifessiii' Ilcismer. 

At eight (rdiH/lv in the evening, a similar audience, with President Johnston in the chair, 
was assembled in the same room, and listened to an address entitled "The Sifted Grain and 
the Grain Sifters," l)y the Mon.'Cliarles Francis Adams, of Massachusetts. 

This was folhiwed by an informal reception by the Society, in the course of which tlie vis- 
itors inspected the building in detail. 

All of the addresses delivere 1 at the dedicatory exercises, together with the dedication 
hymn, are herewith given in full. 



(6) 



I IK I IK A ri().\ CKh'I'lMOMKS 



THE INVOCATION 



BY JAMES DAVIE BUTLER, LL. D. 



T IS liulioved tliat I am in years the oldest man in tlie State ITistnrieal Soeiety of Wis- 
I'onsin, wliicli now liere celebrates tJic most epocli-iiiaking- event in its eareei'. It is 
certain that few survive whose memories, hke mine, run hack to its hooks "thinly 
scattered to makt' up a show," yet filling no more shelves than my own scanfy stock. 

Still fewer perhaps have been in more continuous connection with the institution than I, as 

member, officer, or at least reader, for over forty-two years. 
It has therefore been requested tliat I beti'in the 

liresent function with some introductory ^vords. One 

single feeling, however, is ]iaramouu( in me wlier- 

t'Ver I turn my eyes from this central platforni, or 

wander among the bookstacks from Ijasement to sky- 
lights. Tliat dominant feeling among the mysteries 

of Providi'ucr is, a blending (if amazement and gi'ati- 

tude which imiu'ls nu- to exclaim, " W'liat hath ( lod 

wrought!" In this our crowning mci'cy of tiic cen- 
tury, I behold the arm of the Lord revealed, and his 

finger writing above our portals what 1 saw far u|i the 

Nile over the entrance of the most ancient libi'ary 

known in the \v(>r]<l, the insci'ijition, Ilcdltli-honxc <if 

tllC ffllll!, l/'I'X'/? LiTflUOV. 

My feeling, "What hath God wnuiglit !" bids me 
sjieak to God first and foremost. Let us, therefore, 
bow before him wh<) only is great. 

Dcdicdlorj/ I'rcti/cr. 

Almighty God ! Our hearts overflow witli joy, as 
we Jiow come before thy jirescnce. The memories of 
us members of the Historical Society, are of its cradle 
coeval with the early years of our commonAvealth, of 
its first bibliothecal gatherings vouchsafed a corner in 
the old capitol, and when that place became too narr(i\v, welcomed in a hospitable cliurch. It 
gladdens us tliat our historic jewels were at once Inniored with befitting caskets in the new 
capitol; and when they luid grown too large for that setting, that capitol-extension was largely 
brought afiout in order to enshrine them. Our most precious memory is, that the Society 

(7) 




Prof. JAMES DAVIH BUTLER, I.E. D. 

One of the oldest members of the Society, now 
in his eiKhty-sixth year. E'roni photograph 
taken on his eightieth birthday. 



WISroXSIN STATE IIISTOIUVAL LIBBAEY BUILDING 

was winning- sucli a iKinu' in the liearts of the peoi>le at large, as foreshadowed tlie eonsum- 
mation and enhnination we now witness. 

That man has here done his utmost to safeguard our treasures from fire and otlier fury of 
elements, as well as to furnish effectual helps for their doing the greatest good to the greatest 
number who laljor to liecome heirs of all ages, how can we be fitly thankful ? That our accu- 
mulations and those of tlie University here combine under one roof, and, clasping loving hands 
together, lend and borrow light, each exalting each, is the crown of our joy. That ours is such 
a felicity of position, that our feast of reason is spread as daily food "without money and with- 
out price " before the sons and daughters of our people who chiefly congregate here for the 
bettering of their minds, — that such a price to get wisdom is here put into receptive hands, — 
God ! liow can we fitly thank thee? 

To tliee, () (xdd, we dedicate this lilirary, as a Christian and a christianizing establish- 
ment, a hall of harmonious research where the brotherhood (jf man shall be promoted — all 
mingling on one level, no matter how divided by creed or party or class; all walls of ])artilion 
bi-oken down. 

Thankful for the ]i.ist, our jirayer is for the future. Grant still to the Society that home 
in the hearts of the people which is motlier of its prosperity. Let it be felt that no city is too 
great and no hamlet too small to be uplifted l)y its influence. Out of the abundance of their 
hearts, the people of Wisi-nnsin have made the Society trustees of a vast educative bounty. 
Let the state sustain this palace of light which it has built, so that the munificence of the peo- 
])le shall do its perfect work. Let this magnet attract from far an<l near, those wlio can most 
jiroflt by its treasures of scient'e and delights of learning. 

We delight to honor the Society's founders who have walked the way of nature. Our own 
days are a sha(lo^\-, and there is none abiding. Olticers, members, readers, all die. All the 
more because " we all do fade as a leaf," let us exult in the Society which, tbi-ougli thy bU^ssing, 
shall not die — shall know no age, but from generation to generation shall hand down legacies 
moi-e and more jiriceless, each a new proof tliat while the forms of matter are fleeting, the 
forms of mind are eternal. 

Our prayer and liope are, that even wln-n tlv.'se massive walls, these rocks of ages, must 
crumble, the Society, through still difl'using the learning of the world and the literature of 
power, shall be fulfilling thine own first mandate: Let there be light ! glory thus redounding 
unto thee, "the Father of lights," and unto thy Son "whose life was the light of men," — who 
was born and came into the world to this end, that "the peoi)le which had sat in lUirkness 
might see great light." Amen! 



(S) 



j)Ki)jcA rioy ( ■/■:i!I-:m()MI':s 



PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS 



BY JOHN JOHNSTON. 



1 1 18 is a (lay of wliicli our Iiuloved state may well fool iiroud. There have bee 
yreat days in her short history, l)ut none of them haA'e lieen greater than this 
^P^^ are men in this audienoo who were present at Wisconsin's birth; they tell us i 
" hahy bed was prowlol I'ound by the Indi i i'- ( i k kliiu tn ad;" that where 
nhllions of happy, intelligviit, and pros- 
perous people now live there was, within 
their recollection, an unexi)lored wilder- 
ness of prairie and forest; where every 
hour there now thunder across our 
state, great traiiis laden with iiiei'chan- 
dise and men, there was no path but the 
track of the wild beast or the trail of tlie 
almost e(|ually wild red-man; and \\liere 
now are great cities witli s|iaci(ius liar- 
liors, large factories, and a fai'-icai-bing 
commerce, Lake Michigan lollcd in 
upon a desert shore. This is a wonder- 
ful transformation to occur in a single 
lifetime; but we have to-day, biglicr 
reasons for congratulation lliaii mere 
increase in population and luateri.il 
wealth. 

A\diile we have been busy plnwiir. 
the ]ii'airies, cutting dnwn the foresis, 
o])ciiing mines and building cities, the 
proceedings of this day emiihasizc in a 
remarkable way the fact tliat we have 
not forgotten those higher ami iKibloi' 
achievements pertaining to a piMijilc 
truly great. 

It would not have been coiisidei'cd 
strange had this magniticent building 
been erectcil by one of the old c(jmmon- 



n many 
. There 
diat her 
her two 




JOHN JOIIXSTOX 
)1 the Wiscmsin State Historical S(i 



('■») 



WISCOXSIN STATE HISTORICAL LIBliABY BUILDING 

wealtlis of the East; but that our young state should have done so is, I think, as remarl^aljle as 
it is praiseworthy. 

The name " Wisconsin " is said to mean " the gathering of the waters." When applied to 
our state it may well mean " the gathering of the peoples; " for within our borders, men and 
women from every state in the Union, and from almost every country in Europe, have found 
a home. Notwitlistanding this influx of hundreds of thousands of strangers, the standard of 
law, order, morality, and education has been kept exceedingly higli. 

There is nothing strange in the fact that Dr. Lyman C. Draper, the father of our State 
Historical Society, sliould have Ix'guii fifty years ago to collect materials which have now be- 
come so vast and valuable; and wiiile it was exceedingly fortunate, it can iiardly be said to 1)6 
remarkable that his mantle should have fallen on a successor every way worthy of him, in 
the person of Reuben Gold Thwaites, the present able secretary and enthusiastic superintend- 
ent of our Society, to whose efforts, more perhaps than those of any other living man, we are 
indebted for its prosperous condition to-day. I do, however, think it remarkable that the peo- 
ple of Wisconsin, as represented in their legislature, should in this so-called mercenary age 
have been animated by so high an ideal of duty as to vote $620,000 to erect the most costly 
and most splendidly equipped historical library building upon the American continent. 

At tlie annual meeting of our Society held on December 13, 1895, its president said, " that 
tlie event of all events in that year was tlie action of the legislature creating a commission and 
appropriating money to erect a building somewhat commensurate with the importance of our 
Society and the wealtli and intelligent of our great state. For this we have worked, watched, 
and waited for years, and let all honor, we say, be accorded to those state officers and mem- 
bers of the legislature who rose to the high occasion. On account of this, generations Iience, 
wlien every other act of theirs is forgotten, men shall call them blessed." 

Five years have passed, and we have now met to dedicate this temjtle of liistory to the 
noble uses for which it was erected. It will stand for centuries to come in all its strength, 
simplicity, magnificence, and beauty, a grand monument to the men who lived in Wisconsin 
at the close of the nineteenth century. The great liberality of our state, illustrated in tliis 
l)uilding as well as in its generous support of all the educational and charitable institutions 
within our liorders, proclaims in no uncertain language the l)elief of the pcuplr of our state 
that we have a great future before us; and we mean to show that we are worthy of that future 
by ])rei>aring for it. 

If we cast our eyes l)ack for three thousand years, we see tlie highest civilization in tJie 
valley of the Nile, and again on the Tigris and the Euphrates; l)y and ])y the mistress of the 
world estaldished her seat on the lianks of the Tiber, and then on tlie lianks of the Thames. 
Can we for a moment doubt that here, in tlie valley of the Mississippi, a civiliz-ation shall arise 
far surpassing in material, moral, and mental grandeur the civilization of the Nile, the Tigris, 
the Tiber, or the, Thames? Wisconsin, full of the highest hopes for the future, is doing what 
she can to usher it in. 

A library is composed of the best thoughts of the best tliinkers of all time. One cannot 
choose his companions from tlie great ones of earth; but within these walls he can hold inter- 
course with the greatest intellects in the world's history — the master spirits of the race. 

The problems of real life, in dealing with our fellow men, and the great social and politi- 
cal ciuestions which are from every side crowding in upon us for solution, will have more light 
cast upDii them from the study of history than from any other source. In history is re- 
conled the ascent of the moral, religious, and intellectual life of the human family. Ilis- 

(10) 



]>h:i>i( '.I ri(),\ ( 'I':ii'i<:j\/()xii<:s 

Idi'y lins lu'i'ii ("illcil "tlic Ictlcr of iiislvuctiun.s wliidi lli<' did t^cnoratioii.s wi'ili' ;iii(l transmit 
to till' new." 

The treasuiX's of historic lore wliicli arc stored u|iiiii llirsc slielves are open to all. It re- 
qnires n') n'olik'n key to reaeli tliein. l^lie fountains of knowledge are as fri'e as they arc in- 
exhausfihle. I think I ean hear our enthusiastic seerctaiy, like the Jiclirevv prophet of old, 
caUing-, "Ho, every one that thirsteth, eonie ye to the waters, and he that hath no nujney 
come ! " 

I have sometimes thouglit it strange that Wisconsin has talcei^ such an interest in history, 
seeing it has so brief a history of its own. No buried cities, no ruined arches, no crumbling 
pakaces, no grim castles famed in song and story, no gloomy cathedrals, no historic battlefields 
are to be found within the confines of our young Wisconsin. I cease not to give thanks that 
such is the case. It is a grand thought that we begin our history untrammeled by traditions, 
and unfettered by i)rivilege and prerogative. Instead of the grim spectres of the departed past, 
we see fair I'itics rising on the shores of beautiful lakes, with schools, colleges, libraries, 
churches, and all those benevolent and charitable institutions which are the glory of our mod- 
ern civilization. 

If men come not from afar to visit our relics of the past, they are coming in greater and 
greater numbers to consult the records of the past wliieh we have garnered. 1 do not think 
it a thing impossible that before many generations come and go, the students of Europe will 
not consider that their education is complete until they have studied at the University of Wis- 
consin! Our state is larger than all England, but has only 2,000,000 of people; can any one 
predict the standing of our University whei^ it has the support of ten, perhaps even twenty, 
millions of people ? 

We are on the threshold of a new century, a fact which should give an impetus to the 
study of history. Not one of us will reach another of these mile-stones of Time, and it be- 
hooves us to look botli back ujion the past and forward to the future. 

He must bi.' blind, indeed, who cannot see that at present the mightiest agencies are uni- 
fying the nations of the earth. Every ocean is covered with ships, the mountains are being 
tunneled, the rivers bridged, great canals are being made between the oceans, electric wires 
are being laid in the dark depths of the sea, while wonderful expositions of the industries of 
every nation are being held under one roof, and the prejudices of race and tongue are rapidly 
melting away. The horrid thunders of war have not ceased to roll, liut they are merely prepar- 
ing the way to usher in the grand diapason of universal peace. 

Ladies and gentlemen, I feel that I must not occuj'y any more of your time, for we have 
with us many distinguished men from both our own and other states, who have kindly come 
to assist us in making the exercises of this hour worthy of the great occasion we have met to 
celebrate, and to rejoice with us that one more mighty jiower has been established in Wiscon- 
sin to dissi]iate the darkness of ignorance and " weaken the sceptre of Old Night," a power 
which will make for righteousness, intelligence, and truth, through many generations to come. 



(11) 



Di'inicA rioy crjiKMosi i':s 



A WORD FROM THE BUILDERS 



BY JxVMES II. STOUT. 




'RUST, as presidsnt of the Board of Commissioners for crci-tiiio- tlio State Historical 
Library Building, that a feAv figures, briefly stated, giviuti' tlic cost of lliis biiilihng 
and comparing it with the cost of some otlier library ami oHico buildings ivccntly 
constructed, may be of interest at this time. 

For construction alone, Iliis building has cost 20 cents per cubic fooi; including all the fur- 
nishing and equipment, as you see it to-day, it cost but 29 cents per cubic fool. 

In the southwest stack wing, there is stor- 
age capacity for 250,000 volumes; there is space 
for 5,000 volumes upon the walls of the reading 
room; the newspaper stack holds 20,000 bound 
volumes of files; (lien, the several offices and 
departmental and seminary libraries will hold 
about 138,000 volumes, making a present tot:d 
storage capacity of 413,000 volumes. When the 
northwest stack wing is constructed, this total 
will be increased to 625,000 volumes. 

The cost of the Milwaukee Puldic Liln-ary 
building was al>out 21 cents per cubic loot, for 
construction alone. I understand that its ca- 
pacity is 240,000 volumes, and tliat it now has 
a':)0ut 140,000 volumes in its stack rooms. 

The cost of tlie Chicago Publie Library, 
which is liighly decorated, was 43 cents per 
cubic foot. The Boston Public Library cost 70 
cents; but, as most of you know, this building is 
very handsomely finisheil and decorated. The 
cost of the new Columbia University Library, 
in New York city, was 40 cents per cubic foot; 
of the State Library at Richmond, A"a., a brick structure, 23 cents; of the Auditorium Llotel, 
in Chicago, 38 cents; of the New York Life Insurance Company l)uilding at Kansas City, 38 
cents; and of the same company's building at Omaha, 39 cents. 

These figures are instructive as well as interesting; they exhibit the fact that this lieautiful 
library building for the State Historical Society of Wisconsin has been constructed, furnished, 

(13) 




JAMl'S H. STOUT 
President of the Board of Building Conmii 



WISCONSIN STAIE IIISTOIUCAL LIBBABY BriLDING 

and equipped at a niinimiini cost to tlie state — that the people have in every respect received 
their money's worth. The Building Commissioners have attempted to erect this building with 
the same care as to expense and quality that they would exercise upon buildings for them- 
selves; it is confidently believed that tlie trust committed to them has lieen administered upon 
a prudent and business-like basis. It is a sufficient reward to thcni to know tliat the people 
of the state, so far as heard from, apjiear to be satisfied with tliis )iuilding, which is tu-day 
dedicated to the cause oi liiglier education in the state of Wisconsin. 




THIC lU'ILDERS AT WORK 
Carvers cutting lions' heads, over east entrance. 



(14) 



DKDICA HON ('I'UiliMO^lES 



THE STATE AND THE SOCIETY 



BY GOVERNOR EDWARD SCOFIELD. 



1)EE^^ it an lioiior t<i take part in tlie ceremonies of (Icilieatiiie; lliis inagnifieent 
l)uil(.ling; al)uiiiling wliicli seems to me to l)e tyi)ieal of the sjiirit of the people of tlie 
Badger state — tlie people who liave chosen for their motto tlie word "Forward." 
That single inspiring word comprehends all, and we have proof here that the people are 
1 iving up to it in its fullest significance. It speaks volumes for the state that there should be within 
its borders a collection of books and documents deserv- 
ing such a home, and that the people should be willing 
to erect a building worthy of such a collection. The 
stranger who visits this library and examines its con- 
tents need ask jio questions as to the intelligence and 
enterprise of our citizens; this noble monument and its 
treasures tell the tale. They are more elociuent than 
words; they leave notliing to l)e asked. 

The topic upon which I have been asked to speak 
for a few moments, iiresents with these associations 
thoughts too numerous and too exjiansive to lie cov- 
ered, even in a general way, in tlie time I am allotted; 
I shall therefore confine myself to a few remarks upon 
the attitude of the state toward educational movements. 

But before doing this I wish to express publicly my 
pleasure and jiride in this beautiful structure, and to 
compliment tlie ISuilding Commission which liad it in 
charge upon the success wliiih it has acliicved. I had 
no concei)tion of the beauty of the building until I re- 
cently visited it; and I feel that the state owes a del>t 
of gratitude to the men who, without recompense, gave 
their time and attention to it in oi'der that we might 
have here in the capital of Ibe state and at the seat of 

the State University, a lilu-aiy building worthy of the weallh and intelligence of the citizens of 
Wisconsin. 

Wisconsin has been generous in i)roviding facilities for education. There is scarcely a nook 
or corner in the whole state where the schoolhouse is not within easy reacli of every child who 
desires an education; and in every city of the state, the public schools are among the largest 

(15) 




KDWARU SCOFIELD 
Governor of Wisconsin. 



WISCOKSIX STATE IIJSTOEICAL LIBBAEY BVILDIXG 

anil best of its l)uil(lings. Not only has the state Iteen Hheral witli money for sehool-liuil(hngs 
and equipinents, hut its laws have heen framed with a view to encourage learning. Every- 
where, from the little sehoolhouse in the woods to the great University on the hill, which 
crowns our e(hicational system, is the s]Mrit of the people towards learning manifest. And the 
liberality has not stopjied with provi(hng means of educating children and those who desire to 
pursue tlie higher courses of learning; hut it has l)een extended to tlie care of the (k'fective and 
criminal classes. Every citizen of the state may feel i)ride in the intelligent and generous 
manner in which these classes are cared for, as well as in the way in which tlie state lias ajv 
propriated money for public education. It is a gratifying fact that the money thus a])propri- 
ated has been "intsUigently expended and wisely distributed. I do not mean that there nnght 
not be improvement in the method of spending public moneys in AVisconsin, as elsewhere; but, 
for the most part, money has l.ieen appropriated by the state only when it was needed, and 
this implies intelligent expenditure. The great T/niversity, near the grounds of which this 
library building is erected, is an illustration of what the state is attempting to do in the way 
of giving an opportunity to her children for a higher education. A^ist sums have l)een ex- 
jiended upon it, and greater sums will be exjiended in the future to keep it in the foremost 
rank uf universities. The same liberality has been and will be shown toward the common 
schools. I feel that there nnght be even more money than there is, expended for the pulilic 
schools. 1 am confident that before many years elapse, the appropriations for the public 
schools of the state will be very largely increased. Our state presents the example of a gener- 
ous giver, profited by giving. The principle is as true in government as it is in the development 
of jirivate character, that the one wdio gives will l)e the one who gets. 

The foolish, unthinking person might contend that the generosity shown by the iieoi>le to- 
war<l educatinn and iihilaiithropic work had nut made the state more wealthy and ])rospcrous; 
but (he contrary is regarded as so obviously true by all who do think, that it is not wortli 
while discussing. I venture the assertion that every dollar expended in the University has 
])een repaid tenfold to the state, in the develoiiment of its resources. If it could be determined, 
it would be exceedingly interesting to know how nuich the College of Agriculture, for instance, 
has increased the agricultural interests of the state; and I have no doulit it would be found 
that the knowledge imimrted by the college had i)aid the state ten times what tlie college has 
cost. 

AVisconsin is steadily growing more wealthy, not merely in material things, but in the 
things that cannot be measured by commercial rules. The general level ol' prosperity, which 
includes all, from the man who laln)rs with the shovel or the hoe to the cai)italist, has been 
raised and is steadily rising. A\'lien we shall reacli the heiglit of material prosperity, no one 
can predict; but I feel confident, knowing something of the temperament of the people and the 
development of philanthroiiic impulses, that even after the stale has reached the climax of 
material ])rosiiL'rity, she will go on increasing her liberality along higher lines. It is in the 
very nature of advancing civilization, such as we are i)roud to Ijelieve our state exemplifies, 
that this sliould be so. 

It is ]ileasing to think that with all these large sums which the state appropriates each 
year, no tax-payer has been really burdened. AVe know, of course, witliout discussing that 
l)oint, that there are a great many ineciualities in our system of taxation; but no man sufi'ers 
hunger or is deprived of any of the necessities or even luxuries of life through the amount of 
taxes he has to pay; so that our giving — and this must be a pleasure to us — for these nol:)le 
purposes, such as the erection of this building, is done without any feeling of iiressure. 

(lU) 



JJEDK 'A TION CKKEMONIKS 



In t-losino-, let me say again tliat I fcol we owe a (lel)t of gratitude to the commission in 
whose chai-o-e this huihhng has heen, I'oi' its conscientious and intelligent work. The stately 
appearance ol' the exterior ot this structure, as well as the artistic beauty of its interioi', not to 
speak of the mass of knowledge represented by its contents, will be an insiHi'aliun and guide 
to better taste and higher impulses for many generations to come. I feel to-dny jhaf my i)rede- 
cessor, Governor I'liham, undei' whose administration and upon whose recounnendation Ihe 
first appropriation loi' this beautiful structure was iua<le, is lo be coinphiuented upon the 
moinniient he budded for hiuiseir. It is a nionumeiil lo learning which will stand long after 
those who conceived it have passed away, and of which tins and future generations may well 
be jiroud. 




I r 



AS SEEN FROM THE UNIVERSITY GYMNASIUM 



(17) 



WISCONSIN STATE TIISTOIUCAL LIBBARY BUILDING 



THE UNIVERSITY AND THE SOCIETY 



BY CHARLES KENDALL ADAMS, LL. D. 



AUNR'EESITY is chiefly an inspiration and an opportunity. Tlie highest work of 
tiie great teaclier is to Icindle a desire and tlien to point out tlie way. Learning some- 
times seems to shrinlc up the soul. If at any one spot there are twelve apostles, at 
least one of them has to look after the luirse, and so loses his way. It is only the 
inspired soul that ran throw wide njien the doors that lead into the Elysian fields, and say to 
the student, " This is the way ; walk ye in it." 

If the teachers are the inspiration, the lahoratories and the libraries are the opportunities of 
knowledge. But all learning tends to take on tlie liistoric form. Even the mathematics can- 
not thrive without Pogendorf's Annalcii. And so, when the university is reduced to lowest 
terms, we find that it consists simply of two elements — teachers and books. All tilings else, 
liowever necessary and desiralde, are as mere clothes to the real man. Hence it is easy to see 
why a great library has always been held to be a necessary part of a great university. The 
great library at Alexandria preceded the other part of the university ; and the Germans, after 
the war of 1870, would hardly think of founding the new University of Strassburg till the other 
universities of the world had given them 300,000 volumes. 

It would lie hard to name any place where these two necessary elements of learning have 
been more fortunately brought together than they have Iiere. Other universities, it is true, in 
the course of long years and centuries have brought together larger faculties and more numerous 
bodies of students. Other liltraries count greater numl)ers of volumes. But who can name a spot 
where in less than fifty years from the time when the frontiersmen were lieginning to gather 
up the unwoven fringe of civilization, the people have brought such a gift as this and placed 
it, we may almost say, in the lap of the State University ? 

This was as it should have been ; for where else could the streams of knowledge have been 
s) potent for good as when flowing back into the state, through the minds and hearts of the 
children of the people? Are not the children the dearest possession of the fathers and the 
mothers, and so the dearest possession of the state? Do not the fathers and mothers willingly 
and cheerfully do for their children more than they would do for themselves ? Is there any thing 
more striking in society than the universal desire of parents that their offspring should have 
a better chance than was given to the fathers and mothers? If it be true that all that a man 
hatli will he give for his life, it is none the less true that all that a man hath will he give for his 
children. This, for obvious reasons, is even more strikingly true on the frontiers than it is in 
the mature parts of our country. The school houses that dot the valleys and hillsides are a 
striking and a glorious proof of the determination that whatever else comes, the children are to 

be provided for. 

(IS) 



1)K]>I( 'A T/ON Cl'Jh'EMONIES 

1( was ill (liis siiiril llial llir ivpivsciilal ivcs ol' lliis cd )iiwealtli gave (lir iiKinoyfor 

this luililf slnicliiiv. Il was Inr llioir cliildrcii raflicr lliau for llicinselves ; and it may wi'U be 
(loiiliti'd wlii'duT till' Icyislaliii'c t'ould possilily Inivo Ihvd piTsnadcd to erect sucli a structure 
clscwlicrc than at tiic edge of the University, where so many of their sons and dauglitcrs come 
to ih'ink of the sweet waters of learning. Here, it is true, is an liistorical collcclion of such 
importance that, wlicrever its liomc, it would draw scholars and investigators to it fnjiii aU 



,r^ 




CHARLES KENDALL ADAMS, LL. D. 
President of the University of Wisconsin. 

parts of the country. But it is safe to say that the pr(>donn'nant and deciding motive in ])roviding 
for so large and commodious a structnre was to make a place wliere the children of the state 
woul<l, for years and perhaps centuries to come, feed their intellects and their souls with the 
best tliat the world of letters has to give. 

Nor let us forget the elevating and ennobling inliuences of sucli surroundings, ("an any 
student even look down the coi'ridor as he enters the building, without feeling sonjelhing of 
that subduing insijiration wbicli is always felt in the presence of the great in art? As for niy- 

(19) 



^rlscoNSIK state iiistoeical libbaey building 

self, when, after an absence of six months, I first entered the completed structure, I could 
scaix'ely refrain from exclaiming, as I gazed about me, " Hei-e is something which even the 
Greeks themselves would have praised ! " And as I wandered from room to room, and finally 
walked around the exterior, I could not help thinking that the building as a whole would not 
have been out of place on that sacred hill of Minerva at Atliens, which was thronged with 
temples and statues and colonnades, any one of whicli, it has been said, would liave been the 
artistic glory of anj' city in the world. And I fancied that in the years to come many a student 
may here have something of that artistic tlirill, at once subduing and all-permeating and up- 
lifting, which so many have felt on first entering King's College chapel at Cambridge, liut only 
Wunlsworth's genius could fully express. 

'■ Tax not the royal Saint with vain expense, 

With ill-matched aims the Architect who planned, 

Albeit laboiu-ing for a scanty band 

Of white robed Scholars only, this immense 

And glorious work of fine intelligence ! 

Give all thou canst ; high Heaven rejects the lore 

Of nicely-calculated less or more : 

So deemed the Man who fashioned for the sense 

These lofty pillars, spread that branching roof 

Self-poised, and scooped into ten thou.sand cells, 

Where light and shade repose, where music dwells 

Lingering, and wandering on as loth to die ; 

Like thoughts whose very sweetness yieldeth proof 

That they were born for immortality. " 

As I tarned to take another survey of the whole, even the lii:>ns which guard the front 
jiurtals seemed to say to every goer and comer • " Leave behind you every turbulent passion, 
for growl and roar as you may, you will be keitt in jjlace by this weiglit of wisdom and this 
sense of beauty, ami will finally be enchained and led with garlands of flowers." 

In the name of the University, I give thanks for this nol.)le offering on the altar of learning. 

In behalf of the regents and all the faculties, I give thanks. 

In liclialf of tlic thousands of students, whether now here or yet to come, who are most 
specially to enjoy the fruits of these labors, I give thanks. 

The higliest institution of learning in the state, in all its branches, brings its congratulations 
and its thanks — to tlie Building Commission, who have so faithfully guarded all the interests 
of the state ; to the arcliitects, who have designed a building so noble in conception, so pure in 
style, and so beautiful in i)roi)ortion and detail; to General Fairchild, to Governor Upham, 
and to y])eaker Burrows, who ])ut forth their powerful efforts in the hour of emergency ; to the 
wise legislators, who saw the significance of such a structure in its beneficent influence on the 
far future ; and most of all to the generous people of this great commonwealth, who have shown 
tliat tliey have been alike determined that liberty in the land shall not perish, and that in 
accordance witli the great Ordinance of 1787 learning in Wisconsin shall forever be fostered and 
encouraged. 



(20) 



DEDICA TION VKHEMONIES 



THE SOCIETY 



BY REUBEN GOLD THWAITES. 



Oil'" THE hundred men wlio, fifty-one years ago last January, placed their names upon 
1 (he membership roll of the Wisconsin Historical Society, I believe that not over three 
ir four are now living; and probably none of these are here present. Tlie first gen- 
ration of the organizers of our guild have practically passed away. We who to-day are 
dedicating to public use this temple of history in Wisconsin, are of the second generation ; 
that which we are garnering is the fruitage of the inspiration which has come down to us from 
the pioneers of 1849. 

The first four years were practically l)arren. 
The Society, reorganized in 1853, then placed its 
work in tlie hands of one who tliencefortli gave 
]iis life to tliis I'nlerprisc. We ai'c but building 
on the fdundations i:)lanted deeii and wide by 
Lyman I'. Drai)er. It is therefore meet tlml in 
tliis our hour (if rejoicing, we have some tliought 
of the man to wliose memorj^ is due so large a 
share of our thanksgisang. 

Those were days of small Ix'giiinings. After 
the enlliusiasui (if ui-gniiizatidii had passed 
away, but a small band I'cniained df thdse who 
understood the mission of a Shite Historical 
Society, or appreciated what it might become. 
It was early seen that the institution could not 
flourish without state aid. Draper was obliged 
to prove by his works, froui year to year, that 
the Society was worth aiding, as an agency of 
the higher education, and official recognition 
came tardily following tlie steady advancement 
of the undertaking. 

He was by nature diffident, he preferred the cloistered quiet of the scholar; yet the great 
needs of this Society led him, for a third of a century, to exploit it in the jiress, to haunt the 
halls of legislation, to plead foi' the bounty of the philanthropic A generation of men in jiublic 
life knew him for a patient, kindly soul, jiossessed of one high purjiose, to the accomplislnnent 
of which he Ijrought unconquerable persistence. It was given to few to understand him in- 

(21) 




LYMAN COPELAND DRAPER, LL. D. 
First secretary of the Society, 18S4-1,S,S6. 



WISCONSIN STATE HISTORICAL LIBEABY BUILDING 

tiniately, for in social life his was the reticence of a hermit ; but to know Dr. Draper was to 
recognize beneath his ai'mor of reserve, a savant graced with the gentleness of a woman — one 
who loved flowers, liirds, and cliildren, and who in his dailj' walks would stoop to remove ol)- 
structions upon which the aged or the blind might stumble. 

In those early days of storm and stress, when state assistance was paltry, wlien often the 
fortunes of the Society trembled in the balance, when some "practical" men saw little in the 
work that was worthy of recognition, and others, who thought that there was " something in it," 
would gladly have brought the Society's work within the demoralizing influences of practical 
politics, such a man as Draper was literally essential to its being. His hermit tastes enabled 
him, much of the time, to survive upon a salary which most of our library assistants of to-day 
would hnd inadequate to their needs. He could not be starved out; lie staid bj' liis colors, no 
matter liow theliattle went, and in the end came victory, ^^'hen at last he laid down his task 
for others to carry forward, the State IlistoiMcal Society liad become more widely known among 
scholars everywhere, than any otiier educational institution in ^\'isc^)nsin; its future was assured. 

Great has l;)een the progress since then. The library has doubled in size; the number of 
readers day by day has been multiplied by thirty ; the activities of the Society have spread into 
new channels ; the work of investigation and pul)Iication and assistance to scholars has broadened; 
the museum and gallery now receive sixty thousand visitors each twelve-month ; to-day we are 
lioused in a building costing upwaixls of half a niillion dollars, against the paltry $50,000 
which in 18S2 Draper vainly begged the legislature to aiipropriate for a permanent home for 
our collections; and I believe that in ^\'isconsin the Society is far more ])0|)ular than ever 
before. I think, however, we sliall all agree that this has been but the outgrowth of the self- 
denying work of Dr. Drai)er, who from 1854 to 1886 nurtured this Society through critical 
e\i:)eriences which would \\a\c discouraged most men. It is ours to maintain the traditions 
wbicli the founder has left us, to carry on the work to its highest development. 

Let us not suppose that the ambitions of the Wisconsin Historical Society are to remain 
satisfied with the ceremonies of to-day. W'v are jiroud of our new 1 Kidding, we are grateful to 
the two governors and three successive legislatures whose bounty have rendered it possible, we 
welcome the presence of our friends upon so interesting an occasion ; but most of all do we re- 
joice in the new oiijiortunities for helpfulness to the cause of history and of general culture in 
the Middle ^\■est, which are possilde in this enlarged environment in the neighborhood of our 
lusty neighbor, the University of Wisconsin. Enlarged opportunities bring fresh responsibilities, 
and necessitate greatly increased funds. The cost of maintaining a building of this character 
is far greater than is counnonly supposed. Despite the increased annual appropriation which 
followed our removal thither, and the sharing with the State University of some of the expenses 
of maintenance, this is wholly swallowed u\) in such expenses. Literally, we have nothing left 
with wliich to buy books — and a library without a book-purchasing fund is, to say the least, 
in an awkward jHjsition. An additional annual appropriation of $12,000 is a necessity for 
which we shidl be obliged to appeal to the next legislature. 

Other great American libraries have obtained some of their most important collections 
through private generosity. LTnfortunately, we have thus far received few notable accessions 
from this source. Most sincerely do we hope that this cannot long be said of our library ; 
that with so lieautiful a setting as this, large special collections will soon find their way to the 
shelves which eagerly await them. 

In our financial estimates, we have omitted additions to our historical and ethnographical 
museum. Yet this dei)artment of our work is of high educational value, and appeals strongly 

(22) 



DKDICA TION CEBE MONIES 

to !i conslituwicy which is not rcarhcd l)y the library. Is il lno iimrh hi :isl< that the museum, 
at least, may ln' hlicrahy li'cale<l hy Wisconsin phihiiil hrnpists ? Willi ample and Ix'autii'ul 
cases in which to cxhihil s|)ccial collections, it is siucei'ely hdpeil thai piihlii'-siiirileil citizens 
of wealth may now feel il a pleasant duty to perform tln'ii' part towards ])laeiny the museum 
on a better footing, either by direct gifts or by endowment. It is commonly said that state 
aid deadens iirivate interest; this is not true of many state instilulions elsewhere, and ouglit 
not to lie true of oui-s. A\'e haye a right to supjiose that the experiences of other libraries 
and museums iriay be our own: that to a new building come fii'sh gifts. 

It is not alone in our library and museum that we now feel it lair to hope for private liene- 
factions that shall supplement public assistance. In the Held vvcirk <>r the Society, in the direction 
of archfeological investigations, in the study of our Indian Iribes, in tin' accumulation of manu- 
scripts and other material illustrating the life of Western pioneers and the movements hither 
of other peoples, foreign and domestic, and in the fostering of that historic consciousness among 
our people which is the basis of civic patriotism, this instilufion sorely needs substantial aid 
from the puldic-spirited ])hiIanthropists of Wisconsin. In no niher branch of higher education 
in our state can better rt'sults be secured tlian in fostering the manifold ai-tivities of this So- 
ciety, in its library, its museum, its investigations, and its publications. 

We liave heard imu'li tmlay of the success wrought by this Society during the fifty-one 
years of its existence. I venture to say that to those who, succeeding us, shall celelirate 
its centennial within these walls, the first half century will seem to have indeed been a time of 
modest accomphshment. We are but on the threshol<l "1 nui- i)ossibilities. Given, successive 
generations of men at the council board who shall cari-y forward the Society's traditions, and, 
in the changing temper of the times, lose no opportunity to iinpro\-e ui)on them, who shall be 
keenly alive to the rapid development of library and museum methods as instruments of public 
education, and who shall regard history as not mere antiquarianism but as a living study of all 
that man has thought and wrouglit ; given to these men adequate ]iul:)lic recognition and support, 
aided l)y private munificence, and it is fair to predict that Ihe Wis<-ousin Ilistnric.d Society, now 
safely launched ui>on its new career, will achieve results of which the men of the twenty-first 
century may well be jiroud. 



(23) 



DEDICA TION GlilWMONIEIS 



GREETINGS FROM SISTER. HISTORICAL SOCIETIES 



HY CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, LL. D. 



T<) Ml*], Mr. I 'resident, has been assigned tlie pleasant duty of extending to the State 
Historical Society of \\'is<M)nsin the greetings and congratidations of her sister histor- 
cal socit'ties on this her day of fruition. Nor will I pretend to deny that there is 
I certain ]iroi)i'iefy in the assignment; for, not only do I rejiresent here the Massa- 
chusetts Society, — the oldest sister in the family, — ])ut, in addition to that, it so chances 
that my own personal associations with ^ladison date far hack, and the place is associated 
in my recollection with tlie presence and utterances of 
distinguished meji at a momentous historical juncture. 
It is exactly forty years — forty years on the eleventh of 
last month — since the events to which I refer occurred. 
I then was in Madison for the first time ; i:ior have I been 
here since. So, I submit, I may fairly claim that few 
here, not to the manner liorn, liave with Madison an 
older acciuaintance than I. 

To this I propose presently to recur ; and, as is apt 
to be the ease when recourse is had to reminiscence, I 
fancy what I then have to say will jirove my most in- 
teresting contribution to the occasion. I'efore doing 
so, however, I must, as best I may, pertV)rnj my ])art 
as representing here the oldest sistci-. Wlien, however, 
it comes to talking of age, it is somewhat amazing to 
find how little the differciu'c is, ami how young our so- 
cieties all are. I lia\-e said that the society I rejiresent, 
the Massachusetts llistoi-ical Society, is the oldest sis- 
ter in the American family of liistorical societies. So 
far as the material of history, man's record of himself, 
is concerned, what a vista of irretrievable loss is opened 
by that simple statement ! You of Wisconsin are more 
fortunate than we of Massachusetts, in that your state 
and your Society are practically coeval. With us, more than li^■e whole generations of men, 
filling a century and three-quarters of time, had mingled with the dust, before it occurred to 
our ancestors to make any provision for the collecting and safe-keeping of the records of the 
race. How different would it have been for us, — what then , neglected but now invaluable 
treasures would have been saved and handed dowai, — had John Winthrop, and John Cotton, 
iv (25) 




CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, LL. D. 

President of the Massachusetts Historical 

Society. 



WISCONSIN STATE HISTOBICAL LIliBABY BUILDING 

Saltonstall, Endicott, and Dudley formed themselves in 1640 into such an organization as 
Lyman G. Draper here gathered about him in 1854. 

But in the mere matter of age, also, your Wisconsin institution treads hard on the heels of 
us of Massachusetts. Our community preceded yours by two centuries ; your Society is already 
close upon half the age of ours. We date from 1791 ; you from 1849. How rapid and how 
vigorous the growth has been, and wdiat energy and fruitfulness it indicates 1 Massachusetts 
leads the column. Next comes New York, in 1804 ; New Jersey, in 1818 ; Rhode Island, in 
1822 ; New Hampshire, in 1823 ; Pennsylvania and Connecticut, in 1825. To-day, in Massachu- 
setts alone, we have over fifty such societies ; wdiile, on the English-speaking portions of this 
North American continent, the number exceeds four hundred. Of my sense of the mission of 
these societies, of the supreme importance of that mission as an element and an inspiration in 
the progressive development of this nation of ours, I propose to say something more fully on 
this occasion, but not here or now. For the moment, suffice it that, in the name of all her 
sisters, I congratulate the State Society of Wisconsin on its marvelous growth, on what it has 
already done and on what it has yet to do — on its great promise, even more than on its 
excellent performance ; but, above all, on the stimulating example it has set, and the high 
standard of excellence here established to incite the emulation of others. Not the least value of 
this edifice, is as an object lesson. For, if Massachusetts leads the column, Wisconsin by this 
noble edifice sets the pace. 

And now let me recur to tlie other and more interesting portion of my theme, contrib- 
uting an liistorical item to your records. As I told you when I began, my acquaintance 
with Madison, though slight, is not the less vivid for being remote. For from the standpoint 
of 1900, I revert in memory to 1860 ; and, recalling tlie men and events of those days, it seems 
as if a deluge and a cataclysm intervened between us and them. A presidential canvass is now 
going on ; a corresponding canvass was going on then. I am glad, indeed, to say that tlie can- 
vass now in progress augurs differently from that of 1860 — the canvass which, resulting in the 
election of Abraham Lincoln, ominously ushered in the great Civil War. It was an event in that 
canvass which brought me to Madison. In August of that year it was my great good fortune to 
be invited by William H. Seward to accompany him in an election tour he was planning through 
those states of the Northwest which shortly before had given him an earnest though unavailing 
support in that Chicago convention which selected Lincoln as the standard-bearer of the party 
of freedom and the Union, in the unforeseen struggle then immediately impending. Some here, 
doubtless, will still recall the remarkable series of uttei'ances Governor Seward gave out in quick 
succession in the course of that tour, — beginning in Michigan, sweeping up through Wisconsin 
and Minnesota, passing thence into Kansas, back to Illinois, and closing in Ohio. They are 
historical. 

My father, at the time a member of congress, accompanied Governor Seward in this prog- 
ress, and I was of their train. It was my father's custom then, as throughout his life, to keep 
a somewhat elaborate record of occurrences, which, with an observance almost religious, he daily 
noted down. In now looking over this diary, I find that he referred to the reception at Madison 
as " peculiarly flattering, as it was without regard to party. The Catholic Irish element insisted 
upon appearing out of respect to Governor Seward." Here, as in Southern Michigan, from 
which the party had just come, the diarist noted with interest the number of emigrants from 
Massachusetts ; but found them " not so many in proportion as there ; the New York element 
prevailing." This Avas on the eleventh of September ; and, the following day, he visited the 
University and the rooms of the Historical Society. Of the former he spoke as a state institu- 

(26) 



/ ) 1<: I ) ICA TIG N CER K MONIES 

titin " lately estaMisIiccl." " It is," lie wrote, " situated adniiralily, liaviii]!,'- a lieautiful prospect 
of llie Lake on eaeli side, and eoiniiiandinga wide eireuml'erenee, ]>erhai)S not less than twenty- 
five miles. As yet everything is in the raw ; the interior of the main edifice is not ciuite com- 
pleted. The Professors, with sevt'ral nf whom I was made acquainted, were engaged in hearing 
the classes ; and one of them, Mr. lUitk'r,' I remember to have seen at Quincy a year or two 
since, and he showed us the little tliere was to see of books and curiosities ; but the library is 
insignificant, and very carelessly kept. Perhaps, after the room assigned for it is completed, 
the arrangements may he perfected. There are about eighty students now in attendance. The 
institution is based upon a grant of lands, made at the time of the organization of the state by 
the general government. Tliis fund has been preserved, and the interest is faithfully applied, — 
a thing highly creditable to the young state, which has much overstrained itself in its efforts 
to accelerate progress. In this case, as in all others in a young community, time must be the 
only remedy. Professor Butler accompanied us back to visit the rooms of the Historical 
Society, which, as a collection of literature, are really much better worth examining." 

So much for a diary entry made here in September, 18H(), l)y him to whose name I have 
succeeded. Put it so chanced that I also then made a record of what <:)ccurred — the record of 
a young man, but still not absolutely without interest now. It was here in Madison that I first 
heard Governor Seward address an audience. Afterwards, I heard him frequently ; but never 
to such good effect as here. I remember the scene and circumstances well. It was a fine, fresh 
autumnal day ; and, leaving Milwaukee in the early morning, we reached Madison at mid-day. 
Here Governor Seward was met in state, and escorted to the quarters assigned him, where the 
assembled croAvd loudly called on him to address them. Of Governor Seward as an orator, 
after thus first listening to him, I wrote : "In presence, he is far from imposing. Small and 
insignificant, with little apparent inspiration, not well formed and with no advantages of voice, 
of face, or manner, he is yet interesting. His matter gains nothing from his delivery ; in fact, 
I think his speeches read better by far than they sound, and I do not know that any one would 
listen to him while speaking, did they not know that it was William H. Seward. But on tliis 
occasion he was almost impressive, as standing hat in hand, leaning on the rail of the balcony, 
he spoke with a fervour and grandeur which, unaccompanied as it was by a single gesture, and 
with no oratorical display in voice or manner, produced on his audience a most sensible effect." 

The meeting was to be held the afternoon of the following day. I well remember that day 
also ; for then, in the soft light of an early autumn morning, — windless, clear, and mellow, — I 
made acquaintance with Madison. " In truth," I wrote, " God made Madison the fairest town- 
site I ever yet have seen. Lying in the midst of this glorious, rolling prairie country of unsur- 
passed fertility, and surrounded by its four beautiful lakes, it is a fit spot for the capital of a 
great and prosperous state." Later in the day, the whole party was taken out to the estate of 
a gentleman from the East, named Robbins, situated some miles from Madison and in a region 
of infinite beauty ; and there I for the first time saw a form of Western life which caused in me 
a feeling of envy, accustomed as I was to our less kindly and expansive Eastern conditions. 
"There was," as I then wrote, " something noble about the magnificent farm, with its broad 
fields and the beautiful, rolling prospect vanishing in faint, blue, distant prairies, upon whicli 
cattle were grazing." 

Doubtless there are those here now listening to me who were here also on the occasion I 
have referred to, and remember its incidents. They, too, probably regard the intervening 



'Prof. James Davie Butlei', \vhi» participated in the exercises of wliich this address was a part.— Ed. 

(27) 



iri.9C0iY.S7iV STATE HISTORICAL LIBBAIiY BUILDING 

period and its events witli somewhat the same awe, not unmixed with sadness, with winch I 
feel myself impressed. Forty years have since rolled away ; and, even in the early Biblical 
sense, forty years is no inconsiderable time, covering as it did the period during which the 
children of Israel were doomed to tarry in the wilderness. When I last was in Madison, I 
looked upon Governor Seward and my father as men advanced in years ; in eminence, they 
unquestionably stood in the front rank. I have come back here now, very materially older than 
the oldest of the two then was. They both long since died, aged men ; and of those then 
prominent in our political life, not one is prominent now, while the morning's despatches tell 
us that the last survivor of that race is passing away.' Of those who then reigned in other 
lands, earth's ]iotcntates, two alone still occupy their thrones — Victoria of England, and 
Francis Joseph of Austria. In this country, a presidential canvass was then in progress; 
we have since passed through nine more such canvasses, and a tenth is drawing to its close. 
Of the two candidates now for the iiosition to which we were then striving to elevate Abraham 
Lincoln, one was, when I was last in Madison, a youth of seventeen, the other an infant of six 
months. In those forty years great events have occurred ; great names have been inscribed on 
the roll of fame ; much history has been made : but, while Wisconsin has developed into a 
community which in numbers vies with Massachusetts, Madison still rests here, a queen 
enthroned amid her encompassing lakes. 

Of the growth of your University and of this institution, I will not speak. When I stood 
here last, listening to Governor Seward, as he addressed your people of a previous generation 
in the neighboring square, your State Historical Society consisted practically of one earnest 
man, and a small miscellaneous collection of books and material for which he was sedulously 
seeking a home. He long since rested from his labors, and we have just listened to what his 
successor, your present secretary, has not less gracefully than fittingly said of him. I have 
alluded to that Biblical wilderness ])eriod of forty years, l)ut the homeless wanderings of your 
Society covered a yet longer term. Organized on the tliirtieth of January, 1849, it was not 
until January, 1854, that you developed a Moses. For over thirty years, Lyman Copeland 
Draper was then with you, laboring, soliciting, hoping ; but not until he had been four years 
in the grave, did these walls we are hereto dedicate begin to rise. For your Moses, there were 
no Pisgah heights upon which the morning light was to break on his face as he viewed the 
promised land. Not tlie less for that are these walls his monument, his handiwork ; and now, 
as the sister S(.)cieties, a numerous band, few of which fifty years ago were in existence, gather 
here from all over the land fittingly to commemorate this occasion,— the day upon which you 
take formal possession of the stately edifice in which you and your treasures are hereafter to 
be gathered together, — it devolves on me, a stranger, to remind you of memorable scenes which 
once occurred here in this town of Madison, of changes which have taken place, and also of the 
laborer who is gone. And herein is that saying true: "One soweth and another reapeth. 
Other men labored, and ye are entered into their labors." 



'John Shernian, of Ohio, died at Washington, D. C, three days later, October 2l2d.— Ed. 



(28) 



J)l<:i)I( ', 1 77 ON CEM EMONIES 



GREETINGS FROM SISTER LIBRARIES 



BY JAMES KENDALL HOSMER, LL. D. 




TTAVE been invited on this delightful occasion to speak for the sister libraries, and I 
find the task one not altogether easy to fulfill. The feminine world is well known to he 
lirone tci jealousy; and I fear, if the sister libraries spoke fhcir full minds, tliero would 
be some expression of chagrin over the splendors which tiic library of the Wisconsin 
Historical Society is assuming, while they are obliged to be content with such modest condi- 
tions. Then where am I to begin and where am I to 
end in counting the sisterhood? Am I to include Mr. 
Carnegie's new libraries ? But they, for the most part, 
are as yet scarcely born. On the other hand, am I to 
include the library at Nippur, in Mesopotamia? But 
that flourished five thousand years before Christ; and 
since communications with Nippur are somewhat inter- 
rupted, I might have some trouble in ascertaining the 
sentiments of the Nippur librarians as to the new Wis- 
consin departure. I can, however, l:)y no means leave 
out Nippur; for Nijipur among libi'aries is, so to 
speak, a perfect brick ; in fad, it is seventeen thousand 
bricks, — the conscientious cxjilorer seems to have 
counted them, — and he reckons that there are one 
hundred and fifty thousand more still to be unearthed — 
broad tablets of clay baked in the sun, containing 
closely stamped inscriptions that are decipherable and 
ranged along shelves for easy access. 

But if I include in the sisterhood Nippur, I must 
of course include also tlie libraries of Assyria and 
Egypt, and what were they ? A house was something- 
more to an Egyptian or Ninevite than a place to dwell 
in, for it was a book as well. The libraries were the towns and cities, crowded with volumes 
large and small; from the cottage of the laborer, where poverty bad only o]ii)urtunity to stamp 
a line or two, to the palace of the satrap or Great King, where avenues stretched sometimes 
for miles, lined with inscriptions in hieroglyphics or the cuneiform, paralleled Avith a splendid 
pictorial representation of the exploits described. Those ancient libraries certainly had ad- 
vantages. There were never any dog's ears: there were no bills to pay for binding: no one had 

(29) 




JAMES Kl M>\I I II 
Lil^rarian of IMinnL.ipoli 



iSMF.R, 1,1,. D. 
Public Library 



WISCONSIN STATE HISTORICAL LIBRARY BUILDING 

to go the rounds with the dusting-brush, for the winds took care of that. Tlien how solemn 
the thought of their permanence ! Thebes and Bealbec, Memphis and Nineveh still preserve 
on their walls the memorials of their founders. The traveler hears the desert blast sweep by 
him: the wild beast is scared from his desert-lair by the unusual sound of a human footfall — 
but there in the wilderness stands the record, as distinct to-day as if each century had been 
an Old Mortality, sent to deepen the chiseling, or had come witli a Ijrush to renew the splendor 
of the old tints. 

But if the ancient libraries are to have a jjlace in the sisterhood, room must be found, of 
course, for those of mediajval times — and what were they ? Not long since I held in my hands 
a manuscript believed to be at least a thousand years old, inscribed upon purple vellum in 
characters of gold. As I turned over the leaves, the letters flashed up to the eye from the im- 
perial page like stars out of a darkening night. It was the veritable manuscript presented by 
Leo X to Henry VIII, at the beginning of the sixteenth century, for his services as "Defensor 
Fidei" (defender of the faith), and is as clear and bright to-day as it was when the great pope 
bestowed it upon the king. Such are the memorials of the mediaeval libraries, and in com- 
parison with them how frail and perishable appear the receptacles to which we have committed 
the treasure of our literature ! Their strongest clasps yield to the thumb-nail: the wind may 
blow them away, the flames devour them: they crumble beneath the fingers: their frailness 
invites destruction. 

But I am no pessimist in these matters. While I am very sure that as regards sump- 
tuousness and permanence, modern libraries will stand a poor comparison with those of the past, 
I am certain that as regards what they contain, the thought, our libraries are infinitely supe- 
rior. The modern book — it is the essential of the higher hfe — the very bread of the soul! 
There are books that simply amuse, and in a much-tried, hard-working world their place is an 
important one. There are books which are like the parallel bars and vaulting-horses of a gym- 
nasium, designed to make strong and supple the intellectual muscles and sinews. Again there 
are books that increase wisdom; for though no adage is triter or truer than that wisdom comes 
only through experience, there are books through which each man may add to his individual 
experience that of multitudes of other men, and so infinitely enrich and deepen his wisdom. 
Then what shall be said as to l>ooks of philosophy? and of high poetry, so stimulative to all 
such as live in the spirit? And if it be declared that the great poets are all dead, and that no 
one now cares for poetry, have we not in its place the n(_ivel? and what is a nol:)le novel but an 
epic without rliythm and rhyme indeed, but thrilled with the joy and grief, with the pain, pas- 
sion, and aspiration of the human heart !— Such are our books, the very substance of the higher 
life; and the function of the sisterhood of libraries is to gather into their ample alcoves these 
precious stores and distribute them for the satisfaction of the mind's liunger and thirst, that 
never dies. 

Among human institutions is there one whose function is higher? Senator George F. 
Hoar, by many regarded as the first citizen of Massachusetts at the present time, speaking not 
long since at the dedication of a library, declared himself substantially as follows: 

"There is no city so great or renowned that does not wear its public library as the bright- 
est jewel of its crown; nor is there any town so humble that, if it but have a public library, is 
not thereby dignified and distinguished. Among the titles to a high place which Massachu- 
setts boasts at the present moment, not one is more valid than this — that of her three hundred 
and sixty-five towns, more than three hundred and sixty liave jaiblic lilH-aries. Some thirty 
years since, when I first entered public life, I had a friend, a bright and distinguished man from 

(;iO) 



DKDICA TION CEUEMONIES 

ri'unsylvnnia, who was Iniid of i-:illyiii,u' ine upon what he cnlli'il llic conceit of Massacliusetts 
pcoiik': we were i'ons(ati(ly iiiakiiiL;- claims that were inifoundeii: wc were really no better tlian 
we should be. I askc<l him one day when lie didn't kiioAv what 1 was driving at, who were the 
six great poets of America. After a moment's thought he replied, Why, Bryant, Longfellow, 
Emerson, Lowell, \\'hittier, and Holmes. And wlio, said I, are the six great historians ? Why, 
Bancroft, 8iiarks, Prescotf, Motley, Parkman, and L-ving. And who are the six great orators? 
And lie nu'ntioned Wcbstei', Everett, Choate, and Wcnilcjl l'liillii)s auiong the six. Now, said 
L do you notice that all your poets, all your historians but one, and four out of your six oi'a- 
tors, are Massachusetts men? I believe," continued Senator Hoar, "that the judgment of my 
friend was entirely just. The men he mentioned have been our leaders in these high fields. 
They are Massachusetts men, for the most part from Eastern Massachusetts; and if I am asked 
to account for this luxuriant flowering of intellectual life, I will say that I ascribe it to the early 
existence at Boston and Cambridge of great public lil)raries, at whose generous springs eager 
genius could drink in the refreshment that enabled it to blossom and bear fruit." 

Among the states of the West, Wisconsin has won an honoiablc pre-eminence in the mat- 
ter of the public liln'ary. I believe you are sowing seed from which in the near future you are 
destined to reap a gratifying harvest. To-day you install the noblest of your hliraries in a fit- 
ting and beautiful enclosure. The sisterhood of libraries extcmls to you greeting and congrat- 
ulation. It is a majestic company, extending on the one haii<l as we have seen into the very 
morning of time, and on the other hand fronting open-eyed tlic full light of the twentieth cen- 
tury. Greeting and congratulation ! For whatever distinctions your nol)le commonwealth may 
attain, sweetness and light for her will culminate nowhere else than witliin these stately halls. 




IN THE MUSEUM 
Leading eastward, through the south gaUery. 



(31) 



^^. "% 







^^ 



t ^1 



:A 




f-'M 











DKDICA riON CKUh'.MONIICH 



ON THE TEACHING OF HISTORY 



BY ANDREW CUNNINGHAM MCLAUGHLIN. 



TO SPEAK on tlic su1),iect of teaching history, almost under the shadow of the Univev- 
, sity of Wiscdusin, is like carrying a bucket of coals to Newcastle. Inasmuch as the 

^ft^l luiur is late, I shall endeavor to make my load exceedingly small, and offer only a trivial 
contrilaition to the thoughts of this occasion. 
Although I c-annot, in any proper sense, be considered a rei)resentative of the state of 
Michigan or of the University of Mieliigan, I am compelled to assume the idle and offer a word 
of praise and congratulation to a sister state and to a 
sister institution. We cannot help remembering, when 
we see what Wisconsin is doing, that in a certain way 
you are doing our task for us. In preserving the works 
of your own early history, you are saving the material 
of our liistory also. Until a little o\'ei- sixty years ago, 
^^"isconsin belonged to Michigan; or, perhaps I ought 
to say, in this presence, tluit Michigan belonged to 
Wisconsin. The early French travelers, the soldiers, 
priests, and traders, who ti-avci'sed this Western region, 
belong to us in coinnion. Nicolct, .Joliet, Marquette, 
La Salle, — that man of adamant, — and ( 'adillac, the 
founder of Detroit, are our heroes as well as yours. 
While we congratulate you, therefore, on the collection 
of this vast store of interesting material, we felicitate 
ourselves upon the thouglit that some one is doing this 
work of colIecti(ni and ]ii-csei'\'at ion willi s(( mncli tlior- 
oughness and wisdom. 

The teaching of liistoi-v ■ 



if 1 must talk upon that 
subject — has entered upon a new i)liase witliin the 
course of the last few years. 1 tliiidv I am right in 
saying that in a very large measure this change has 
come within the la.st five years, certainly within the last ten. Tlii'oughout the land, in the bet- 
ter schools, and especially in all this Northwestern country, we lind that history now has a 
place on the school curi'iculnin beside the old tenants, who \\i\\v held fr(]m time immemorial 
the most honored positions on the jirogramme. It is tieated on terms of eciuality with Latin 
and Greek and mathematics and the physical sciences. That history has won that place, is 
V (.33) 




ANDKICW C. :\IcI,ArGHLIN. 
Professor of Ilislury in I'liiversity of Michigan. 



WISCONSIN STATE HISTOBIf'AL LIBSAEY BUILDING 

due to the fact that it is looked upon Ijy teachers, no longer as merely an information study, 
Imt as a disciplinary study. It is not simply an entertaining narrative of a series of events 
aliout wliieh it is pleasant to have some trifling knowledge. The school authorities have come 
to realize that hy the systematic and thorough study of history the mind is cultivated, the 
intelligence is awakened, the memory and the imagination are stimulated, the judgment is 
deepened and broadened. Thej^ realize that it has culture value ; for it l>rings the pui)il into 
contact with the highest thought and movement of tlie i)ast. No study can hold or should 
hold a conspicuous place in the school programme unless it gives valuable information and at 
the same time has a distinctly elevating and educative influence. 

In the courses of commercial or higher industrial education, which have recently been 
established in a number of the leading universities, history has been given a prominent place. 
Tliese courses are intended to l)e practical and semi-professional in character ; and those who 
have not watched the progress of modern educational thought may, at first, be somewhat sur- 
])rised to find that the subject of history has been given this recognition. What has history to 
do with commerce? "What can it avail a merchant who is seeking to sell ships of war and 
reaiiers to Russia, or bibles and rifles ti) the islands of the sea, to know any series of historical 
events? Commerce, it may be said, has nothing to do with the past; it seeks to seize the 
present, and looks only to the future. I am not ready to assert that the study of historical 
occurrences will have any immediate utility for the man of business, or be immediately helpful 
to the student who is desirous of becoming a money-maker ; but if business is to be elevated 
into a profession, or, let me say, recognized as a profession, it must be because the business 
man is fully aware of the fact that he has social duties, that he has a public part to play, a 
public function to ix-rform. He must be able to take a In'oad outlook, to see things in tlieir 
human relations, to comin'ehend the wider and deeper bearings of his daily tasks. Now history 
is a social study — I may be bold enough, under the present circumstances, to say that it is 
])re-eminently the social study. It has to do with the activities of men as social beings. It 
does not deal with theories, lad with actualities ; not with formula', but facts ; not with abstrac- 
tions or absolute propositions, but with the concrete conduct of men. We cannot repeat to our- 
selves too often the well-known and much-used saying of Bolingliroke, that history is pliilosdjihy 
teaching by examples — in other words, that liy studying the actual acts and facts of the past, 
the principles of human action are disclosed. It would be strange, indeed, if the courses that 
are intended to prepare students for the active duties of life and fit them to become men of the 
world and forceful men of affairs, could find no place for the one educational subject which deals 
with the hopes, ambitions, strivings, and aspirations of humanity. In all school or college work 
we must not lose sight of our public responsibility, we must acknowledge the ever-present need 
for elevating and stimulating work. And in endeavoring to give the stu<lent pre])aring for 
commercial fife a knowledge of the fundamental laws of commerce and industry, and an appre- 
ciation of social responsibilities, universities and colleges are not becoming merely technical; 
they are not losing sight of either ethical principles or culture. 

Even if it be denied that history has one whit to do witli commerce and industry, or with, 
fitting students for the responsibilities of active life, we can never lose siglit of the fact that all 
of our public institutions have this duty laid close at their door : they must prepare the young 
men and M'omen, that are intrusted to tlieir charge, for intelligent, sober, thoughtful citizenship. 
No school or university course is complete without its modicum. of history ; for history surely 
teaches one to think widely and earnestly on matters of political interest ; it leads him to some 
reaUzation of the significance of the great propelling impulses of the past ; it brings him to some 

(34) 



apiiveciation of (lie siynilicancc and scridusiicss ol' llic lircscnl. TliiiM's, llic t;T(_'a( Fivncli slates- 
iiian, suuijlit a (k'linilion fur IVccddiii and a I'rt'ccldiii-i'cyanlinii' slalc I'^rct'doni surely ddcs not 
consist in dropiiiny while jiieces of i)a|)er into a l)laek hallot-liox. " The free state," said Thiers, 
"is a moral heinti' wliii'h thinks hei'ore it aets." Mr. Bryee, the autlior of Tiie American 
Commonwealth, in one of his journej's tlirough this eouirtry, visited a Western legislature in 
session, and was asked to ajipear before that body and speak to it. He spoke to the legislators 
of the dignity of their work, reminding them that in the making of laws, the building up of 
institutions, they were performing tasks of far more than momentary interest and importance; 
that the deeds that seemed only for a day would, beyond question, influence the destinies of the 
people and mould the nature of the state for many decades, if not for numberless generations. 
The law-makers seemed to be very much surprised and impressed by Mr. Bryce's words. They 
had never thouglit of theii' work as liaving special significance or influence. They were living in 
the present without so much as thinking of the effects which their acts might have on posterity. 
These men surely could not have been students of history; for by studying the past, one comes 
to feel its immense propulsive power; and he realizes too, in some measure, that the ever-fleeting 
present is full of forces and energies that will dominate the future. 

Like all other subjects worthy of serious consideration from an educational standpoint, the 
great aim of history is to teach students to reverence truth. It seeks to give them some skill 
and adroitness in detecting falsehood, in separating the fictitious from the real. Its methods 
are, in the widest and best sense, scientific, and it is thoroughly entitled to take its place in the 
school programme as a scientific study. I know of nothing that has more profoundly influenced 
human thinking in the course of the last fifty years, than the development and thoughtful use of 
the historical method. There is no sacrilege in putting Niebuhr and von Ranke by the side of 
Darwin. We are told by Waldstein, the director of the classical school at Athens, that he was 
one day speculating concerning what he might find as a reward foi' certain excavations. He 
believed that in a particular place he would discover the tomb of Aristotle. As he thought and 
speculated, somewhat uncertain as to what he should do, he asked the opinion of one of his 
workmen who had helped him in similar undertakings. Tlie old Greek gave with promptness 
this laconic answer : " Dig do\vn to virgin soil. Your only arehffiologist is the spade." Such 
is the motto of modern scholar sliip in whatever field of investigation it may be employed. 

These thoughts bring us back again to this beautiful building and its even more precious 
treasures. Here is an opportunity to reach the virgin soil, to examine the original material 
out of which truthful history can be built. Your president has said that the time might come 
when even European students, or the professors of German universities, might wish to come to 
America for historical work. I venture to assert that the time has already arrived when some 
fields of historical study can pi-olitably be pursued only in America. One phase of American 
history, and that perhaps the most important, — the expansion of the American people, the 
extension of American civilization from the Atlantic seaboard across the Mississippi Valley and 
on toward the farthest West, tlie building up of this great republic as the tides of emigration 
poured over the Alleghenies and onward to the Pacific, — can be thoroughly and satisfactorily 
pursued only here at Madison. 

In conclusion, I congratulate the Society and the state on the possession of this spacious 
and artistic building and this magnificent collection; and while T say tliis, I wisli also to con- 
gratulate the Society on being so situated that the material which has been collected with so 
much wisdom and pains can l)e used to the utmost advantage and in a way productive of the 
best results. It seems unbecoming, almost impertinent in me, to use any w^ords of fulsome 

(35) 



lr/,SCOiY.S'/iY STATE HISTOBICAL LIBliAliY BUILDING 

praise of the institution of learning to wliieli tliis Society has offered such advantages. I may 
say, however, that tlie University has made wise and satisfactory use of its opportunities. 
Tliere are only a fe^\• places in the countrj% I hesitate to say how few, where the various fields 
of historical work can he examined hy the student under the most competent and authoritative 
instruction and with a vast wealth of material at his command. One of these places is the 
University of Wisconsin. 





IX THE PERIODICAL ROOJI 



(30) 



DKinCA TION CKliKMONIICS 



THE SIFTED GRAIN AND THE GRAIN SIFTERS 



DEDICATION ADDRESS BY CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, LL. D. 

OiX OCCASIONS such as this, a text upon wliicli to discourse is not usual; I pro- 
J i>()S(' to venture an exception to the rule. I shall, moreover, offer not one text only 
l>ut two: my first, from a discourse prepared in the full theological faith of tlie seven- 
teenth century; my sect)nd, from the most far-reaching scientific publication of the 
centui'v now drawing to its close. 

"Cod sifted a wliole Nation tliat He might send clioice Grain over into tliis Wilderness," 
said William Stoughton in tlie election sermon ])reat'h(^d ac/cording to custt)m before the (xreat 
and General Court of INIassachusetts in Api'il, ItiliS. To the same effect diaries Darwin wrote 
in 1871: "There is apparently much truth in the lu'lief that the wonderful progress of the 
United States, as well as the character of the people, are the results of natural selection; for 
the more energetic, restless, and courageous men from all parts of Europe have emigrated dur- 
ing the last ten or twelve generations to that great country and have there succeeded best;" 
and the quiet, epoch-marking, creed-shaking naturalist then goes on to express this startling 
judgment, which, uttered by an American, would have been deemed the very superlative of 
national vanity: " Looking to the distant future, I do not think [it] an exaggerated view [to 
say that] all other series of events — as that which resulted in the culture of mind in Greece, 
and that whicli resulted in the Empire of Rome — only appear to have purpose and \-aluc when 
viewed in connection with, or rather as subsidiary to, the great streaui of Anglo-Saxon euiigra- 
tion to the West." ' 

>Such are my texts; but, while I propose to preacli from them largely, and to them in a de- 
gree, I am not here to try to instruct you to-day in tin' history of your own state of Wisconsin, 
or in the magic record relating to the development of what w^e see fit to call the Northwest. 
Indeed I am not here as an individual at all; nor as one in any w'ay specially qualified to do jus- 
tice to the occasion. I am here simply as the head, for the time being, of what is unquestion- 
ably the oldest historical society in America; and, if reference is made to societies organized 
exclusively for the preservation of historical material and the furtherance of historical research, 
one than which few indeed anywhere in existence are more ancient of years. Asthelieadof the 
Massachusetts Historical Society, I have been summoned to contribute what I may in honor of 
the completion of this edifice, the future home of a similar society, already no longer young; — 
a society grown up in a country which, when the Massachusetts institution was formed, was 
yet the' home of aboriginal tribes, — a forest-clad region known <.)nly to the frontiersman and 



'T/ic Descent of Man (ed. 1S74), vol. ii, pp. 218, 219. 

(37) 



WISCONSIN STATE HISTOIilCAL LIBRARY BUILDING 

explorer. Under siu-li cireumstanees, I did not feel that I had a right not to answer tlie call. 
It was as it in our older Massaclmsett.s time the pastor of the Plymouth or of the Salem or 
Boston Church had heen invited to the gathering of some new brotherhood in the Connecticut 
Valley, or the lighting of another candle of the Lord on the Concord or the Nashua, there to 
preacli the sermon of ordination and extend the right hand of fellowship. 

And in this connection let me here mention one somewhat recondite historical circum- 
stance relating to this locality. You here may be more curiously informed, but few indeed in 
Massachusetts are to-day knowing of the fact that this portion of Wisconsin — Madison itself, 
and all the adjoining counties — was once, territorially, a part of the royally assigned limits of 
Massachusetts.' Yet such was undisputably tlie fact; and that fact lends a certain propriety, 
not the less jioetic because remote and legendary, to my acceptance of the part here to-day 
assigned me. 

Accepting that part, I none the less, as I have said, propose to break away from what is 
the usage in such cases. That usage, if I may have recourse to an old theological formula, is 
to improve the occasion historically. An address, erudite and bristling with statistics, would 
now be in order. An address in wliich the gradual growth of the community or the institu- 
tion should be developed, and its present condition set forth; with suitable reference to the 
days of small things, and a tribute of gratitude to the founders, and those who, patiently build- 
ing their lives into the edifice, made of it their monument. The names of all such should, I 
agree, l)c cut deep over its portico; but this task, eminently proper on such occasions, I, a 
stranger, shall not undertake here and now to perform. For it, others are far better ciualified. 
I do not, therefore, i)roi)ose to tell you of the St. Francis Xavier mission at Green Bay, or of 
Nicolet; of .Jacques Cartier, of Marquette or of Radisson, any more than of those two devoted 
benefactors and assiduous secretaries of this institution, Lyman C. Draper and Reuben G. 
Thwaites; but, leaving them, and their deeds and services, to be commemorated by those to 
the manner born, and, consequently, in every respect better qualified than I for the work, I 
shall turn to other topics. The time allotted me will be devoted to generalities, and to the 
future rather than to the past. 

In an address delivered about eighteen months ago before the Massachusetts Historical 
Society,"' I discussed in some detail the modern conception of history as compared with that 
which formerly prevailed. I do not now propose to repeat what I then said. It is sufficient 
for my jiresent inirpose to call attention to what we of the new school regard as the dividing 
line l)etween us and the historians of the old school: the first day of October, 1859,— the date 
of the publication of Darwin's " Origin of Species; " the book of his immediately preceding the 
" Descent of Man," from which my text for to-day was taken. On the first day of October, 
1859, the Mosaic cosmogony finally gave place to the Darwinian theory of evolution. Under 
tlie new dispensation, based not on chance, or an assumed su])ernatural revelation, but on a 
patient study of biology, that record of mankind known as history, no longer a mere succes- 
sion of traditions and annals, has become a unified whole,— a vast scheme systematically 
developing to some result as yet not understood. Closely allied to astronomy, geology, and 
physics, the study of modern history seeks a scientific basis from which the rise and fall of 
races and dynasties will be seen merely as phases of a consecutive process of evolution,— the 
evolution of man from his initial to liis ultimate state. When this conception was once reached. 



' See Appendix A. 

= " Historians and Histovioal Societies," Mas.^^achiisitfs Historical Socicti/ Rwcccdiiigs (1899-1900). Second 
Series, vol. xiii, pp. 81-119. 

(38) 



VKDICA TION CKBKISlONrKS 

liistory, ceasing tube a www iiaiTalivc niinlc u]> nf disconnected episodes having little or no 
bearing on eacii ullicr, liccaiiic a ronncctcd wliulr. To eacli development, each epoch, race, 
and dynasty, its pi'opcr ]ilncc was Id ho assigned; and (n assign lliat jilace was tlic function of 
the historian. Formerly cacli t'|)is(Mlc was looked upon as conijilete in itself; and, jjcing so, it 
had features moi'e or less dramatic or instructive, and, foi' that reason, tempting to the his- 
torian, whctlicr investigator or literary artist, — a Freeman oi' a P'l'oude. Now, the first ques- 
tion the historian must put to himscH' relates to the proi)er adjustuieiit of his particular Iheme 
to the entire plan — he is shaping the fragment of a vast mosaic. The incomparably greater 
portion of history has, it is needless to say, little value — not much more than the biography of 
the average individual; it is a record of small accomplishment, in many instances a record of 
no accomplishment at all, perhaps of retrogression; — for we cannot all be successful, nor even 
everlastingly and effectively strenuous. Among nations in history, as among men, we know 
the commonplace is the ruk'; but whether ordinary or exceptional, conspicuous or obscure, 
each has its proper ]ilace, and to it that ]ilacc should be assigned. 

Having laid <lown tbis pi-incipk', I, eighteen months ago, i)roeeeded to ai)i)ly it t(j the so- 
ciety I was then addressing, and to the history of the commonwealth whose name tliat society 
bears; and I gave my answer to it, such as tliat answer was. The same question I now put 
as concerns Wisconsin; and to that also I propose to venture an answer. As my text has in- 
dicated, that answer, also, will not in a sense be lacking in ambition. In the history of Wis- 
consin I shall seek to find verification of what Darwin suggested — evidence of the truth of 
the great law of natural selection as applied also to man. 

Thus stated, the theme, a large one, maybe approached in many ways; and, in the first 
place, I propose to approach it in the way usual with modern historical writers. I shall 
attempt to assign to Wisconsin its place in the sequence of recent development; for it is oidy 
during the last fifty years that Wisconsin has exercised any, even the most imperceptible, in- 
fluence on what is conventionally agreed upon as history. That this region Ijefore the year 
1848 had an existence, we know; as we also know that, since the last ghn-ial jieriod wdien the 
earth's surface hereabouts assumed its present geographical form, — some five thousand, or, 
perhaps, ten, or even twenty thousand years ago, — it has been occupied by lunnan beings, — 
fire-making, im]ilemcnt-using, garment-wearing, liabitation-dwclling. With these we have 
now nothing to ilo. \\'e, the historians, are concerned only with what may be called the mere 
fringe of Time's raiment, — the last lialf century of the liri\' or one hundred centuries; the 
rest belong to the ethnologist and the geologist, not to us. Hut the last fifty years, again, so 
far as the evolution of man fi-om a lowei- to a higher stage of (h'velopment is concerned, tliougli 
a very quickening period, has, alter all, been but one stage, and not the final stage, of a dis- 
tinct phase of development. That phase has now required lour centuries in which to work it- 
self out to the point as yet reached; for it harks back to Hie discovery of America, and the 
movement towards religious fi'cedom which followed close uiioii that (lisco\-ei'y, though liaving no 
clirect connection with it. Martin Luther and ChristoiJK'r Columbus bad little in common ex- 
cept that their lives ovei'hqiped; but those two dates, 1492 and 1517, — the landfall at San Salviir 
dor, and the theses nailed on the church dooi- at Wittenberg, — those two dates mark the opening 
of a new chajitcr in human bistoi-y, the diaiiter in which is recounted the fierce struggle over the 
establishment of the principles of civil and religious liberty, and the recognition of the eciuality 
of men before the law. For, speaking generally but with approximate correctness, it may be 
asserted that, prior to the year 1500, the domestic political action and the foreign complications 
of even the most advanced nations turned on other issues, — dynastic, predatory, social; but,- 

(39) 



WISCONSIN STATE HISTOBICAL LIBRARY BUILDING 

since that date, from the wars of Charles V, of Francis I, and of Elizabeth, down to our own 
Confederate rebellion, almost every great struggle or debate has either directly arisen out of 
some religious dispute or some demand for increased civil rights; or, if it had not there its 
origin, it has invariably gravitated in that direction. Even Frederick of Prussia, the so-called 
(jj-eat — that skeptical, irreligious, cut-purse of the Empire, — the disciple and protector of Vol- 
taire and the apotheosized of Thomas Carlyle, — even Frederick figured as "the Protestant 
Hero; " while Francis I was "the Eldest Son of the Church," and Henry "\^HI received from 
Rome the title of " Defender of the Faith." 

Since the year 1500, on tlie other hand, wliat is known as modern liistory has been little 
more than a narrative of the episodes in the struggle not yet closed against arbitrary rule, 
whether by a priesthood or through divine right, or l)y the members of a caste or of a jirivileged 
^.l;^gg^ — ennobled or consecrated, plutocratic or industrial. The right of the individual man, no 
matter how ignorant or how poor, to tliink, worship, and act as seems to him best, ])rovided 
always in so doing he docs n(,)t infringe upon tlie riglits of otliers, has througli these four cen- 
turies been, as it still is, the underlying issue in every conflict. It seems likely, also, to continue 
to be the issue for a long time to come, for it never was more firmly asserted or sternly denied 
than now; thougli to-day the opposition comes, not, as heretofore, from above, but from below, 
and finds its widest and most formidable expression in the teachings of those socialists who 
preach a doctrine of collectivism, or the complete suppression of the individual. 

That proposition, however, does not concern us here and now. Our business is with the 
middle period of the nineteentli century, and not with the first half of the twentieth ; and, no 
matter how closely we confine ourselves to the subject, space and time for its handling will 
scarcely lie found. Two and fifty years ago, wlien, in the summer of 1848, Wisconsin first took 
shape as a recognized ])()litical organization, — a new factor in man's development, — human 
evolution was laboring over two problems, — nationality and slavery. Slavery — that is, the 
ownership of one man or one class of men by another man or class of men — had existed, and 
been accepted as a matter of course, from the beginning. Historically the imiiiosition did not 
admit of doubt. In Great Britain, liondage had only recently disappeared; in Russia it was 
still the rule ; and, while among the less advanced nations its rightfulness was nowhere chal- 
lenged, with us here in America it was a question of race. The equality of whites liefore the 
law was an article of political faith ; not so that of the blacks. The Africans were distinctly an 
inferior order of being; and, as such, not only in the Southern or slave states, l)ut throughout 
the North also, not entitled to the unrestricted pursuit on equal terms of life, liberty, and happi- 
ness. Hence a fierce contention, — the ])hase as it i)resented itself on the laud discovered by 
Columl)us in 1492, of the struggle inaugurated by Luther in 1517. Its work was thus, so to 
speak, cut out for Wisconsin in advance of its being, — its place in the design of the great his- 
torical scheme intmatally assigned to it. How then did it address itself to its task ? how per- 
form the work thus given it to do? Did it, standing in the front rank of progress, heli> the 
great scheme along? Or, identifying itself with that reactionist movement ever on foot, did 
it strive with the stars in their courses? 

Here, in the Vnited States, the form in which the issue of the future took shape between 
1830, when it first presented itself, and 1848, wdien Wisconsin entered the sisterhood of states, 
is even yet only partially understood, in such occult ways did the forces of development inter- 
act and exercise influence on each other. For reasons not easy to explain, also, certain states 
came forward as the more active exponents of antagonistic ideas, — on the one side Massachu- 
setts ; on the other, first, Virginia, and, later, South Carolina. The great and long sustained 

(40) 



DEDICATION CEREMONIES 

(lt'li;il(' wliirli cldsed in an appeal to force in the sjirin^ of l.S(il, we now iliiiily see was inevitable 
fniin fuuilniuental conditions. It was nut a (|ucstion (if slavery; it was one of nationality. The 
issue liad jiresenled itself over and over ai^ain, in various forms and in different parts of the 
country, ever since the constitution had heen adopted, — now in Pennsylvania; now in Ken- 
tucky; now in New England; even here in AViseonsin : l)ut, in its most eonci'ete form, in South 
Carolina. It was a struggle foi' mastery between centrijietal and t-ent ril'ugal forces. At the 
close, slavei-y was, it is true, llie innnediate cause of (juarrel; bul the seat of disturbance lay 
deeju'r. in annther country, and under other conditions, it was the identical struggle which, 
in feudal times, went on in Great Britain, in France, and in Spain, and which, more recently, 
and in our own day only, we have seen brought to a close in Germany and in Italy, — tlic 
struggle of arising spii'it of iiationality to overcome the clannish instinct, ever asserting itself in 
the desire for local independence. In the beginning Virginia stood forward as the exponent of 
state sovei-eignty. .lefferson was its moutlipiece. It was he wlio drew up the famous Kentucky 
resolutions of 1798-99, and his election to the jiresideney in 1<S(K) was the recognized victory of 
the school of states' rights over federalism. Later the jtarties changed sides, — as political 
parties are wont to do. Possession of the government led to a marked modification of views; 
new issues were presented; an<l in hS07, the policy whicli took shape in .lefferson's Embargo 
converted the Federalist into a disunion organization, which disappeai'cd from existence in the 
famous Hartford Convention of 1814-15. New England was then the. centre of the party of the 
centrifugal force, and the issues were commercial. Fortunately, up to 1815 the struggle be- 
tween the spirit of local sovereignty and the ever-growing sense of nationality had not arisen 
over any matter of difference sufficiently great and far-i-eaching to provoke an appeal to force. 
Not the less was the danger of conflict there, — a sufficient cause and suitable occasion only were 
wanting, and those under ordinary conditions might be counted upon in due course of time 
to present themselves. They did present themselves in 1832, still under the economical guise. 
But now the moral issue lurked l.iehind, though the South did not yet stand directly opposed 
to the advancing sjiirit of the age. lUit nidliti<-ation — the logical laitcnme of the tlieory of 
absolute state sovereignty — was enunciated by Calhoun, and South Carolina took from 
Virginia the lead in the reactionary movement from nationality. The danger once more passed 
away; but it is obvious to us now, and, it would seem, should have bt'cn ])lain to any cool- 
headed observer then, that, when the issue next ju'esented itself, a trial of strength would be 
well-nigh inevitable. The doctrine of state sovereignty, having assumed the sliapc of nulli- 
fication, would next develop tliat of secession; the direct issue over nationality would then 
be presented.' 

Almost before the last indications of danger over the economical question bail disajipearecl, 
slavery loomed ominously up. Not realized at the time, it was now an angry wrangle over 
a step in the progressive evolution of the human \-m-v. The equality of man before the law and 
his Maker, insisted upon, was denied. A ])ortentous issue, in it human destiny was challenged. 
The desperate risk the Southern States then took, is plain enough now. They entered upon 
a distinctly reactionary movement against two of the foremost growing forces of human develoj)- 
ment: the tendency to nationality and the humanitarian spirit. They knew it not, ])ut tliey 
were arraying themselves against tlie very stars in their courses. 



' In ]\fay, 1833, President Andrew Jackson wrote to Rev. Andrew J. Crawford: " Tlie Tariff was only 
the pretext, and Disunion and a Soutliern Confederacy the real objects. The next pretext will be the Negro 
or Slavery- Question." — Sumner's Works, vol. v, p. 235. See, also, I'roixcdiiKjs af ]\I(t>ifi(ivhunctfs Histor- 
ical Society (1900-1901), second series, vol. xiv, pp. 370-3712. 
vi (41) 




flTti 



'. I 




'A S 

< to 

^ m 

W " 



])1'JJJICA TION CKREMONJKS 

Tliis hi'iny so, tlio yccossion-slavery movement between 1835 and ISBO was a in'cilcslincil 
I'ailure. ik'cauyo of fortuitous events — the chances of tlie battlefield, the iMii)ulse of 
inihviihud genius, tlie exigencies of trade or tlie blunders of diplomats — it might easily have 
had an apparent and momentary triumph; but the result upon which the slave power, as such, 
was intent — the ertMtion abdut the Gulf of Mexico and in the Antilles of a great semi-tropical 
nationality, based on African servitude and a monopolized cotton production, — this result was 
in direct conflict with the irresistible tendencies of mankind in its present stage of development. 
A movement in all its aspects radically reactionary, it could at most have resulted only in a 
passing anomaly. 

While the Southern, or Jamestown, column of Darwin's great Anglo-Saxon migration was 
thus following to their legitimate conclusions the teachings of .Jefferson and Calhoun, — the 
Virginia and South Carolina schools of state sovereignty, slavery, and secession, — tlie 
distinctively Northern column, — that entering through the Plymouth and Boston portals, — 
instinctively adhered to th(_ise iirineiples of church and state in the contention over wliicli it 
originated. So doing, it found its way along the southern sliores of the Great Lakes, through 
northern Ohio, southern Michigan, and northern Illinois, and then, turning north and west, 
spread itself over the vast region beyond the great lakes, and towards the upper waters of the 
Mississippi. But it is very noteworthy how the lead and inspiration in this movement still 
came from the original source. While in the South they passed from Virginia to Carolina, in 
the North they remained in Massachusetts. Three men then came forward there, voicing more 
clearly than any or all others what was in the mind of the community in the way of aspiration, 
whether moral or political. Those three were : William Lloyd Garrison, Daniel Webster, and 
John Quincy Adams; they were the prophetic voices of that phase of American political evolution 
then in process. Their messages, too, were curiously divergent; and yet, apparently contradict- 
ory, they were, in reality, supplementary to each other. Garrison developed the purely moral 
side of the coming issue. Webster preached nationality, under the guise of love of the Union. 
Adams, combining the two, pointed out a way to the establishment of the rights of man uirder 
the constitution and within the LTnion. While, in a general way, much historical interest 
attaches to the utterances and educational influence of those three men during the period under 
discussion, the future pohtical attitude of Wisconsin, then nascent, was thereby deeply and espe- 
cially affected. To this subject, therefore, I propose to devote some space; for, deserving attention, 
I am not aware that it has heretofore received it. In doing so I cannot ignore the fact of my own 
descent from one of the three I have named; but I may say in my own extenuation that John 
Quincy Adams was indisputably a considerable public character in his time, and when I, his 
descendant, undertake to speak of that time historically, I must, when he comes into the field of 
discussion, deal with him as best I may, assigning to liiui, as to his contemporaries, the place 
which, as I see it, is properly his or theirs. Moreover, I will freely acknowledge that an hered- 
itary affiliation, if I may so express it, was not absent from the feeling which impelled me to 
accept your call. However much others had forgotten it, I well remembered that more than 
half a century ago, in the days of small things, it was in this region, as in central New York 
and the Western Reserve, the seed cast by one from wli(.)m I claim descent fell in the good 
ground where it lioi'e fruit an hundred fold. 

Recurring, then, to the three men I have named as voicing systematically a message of 
special significance in connection with the phase of political evolution, or of development if that 
word is preferred, tlien going on, — Garrison's message was distinctly moral and humanitarian. 
In a sense, it was reactionary, and violently so. In it there was no appeal to patriotism, no 

(43) 



WlSCoySfX STATE IirSTOE/CAL LIBRAKY liUlLlJING 

recognition even of nationality. (3n the contraiy, in tlie lofty atmosphere of huraanitarianism 
in which he had his being, I doubt if Garrison ever inhaled a distinctivelj' patriotic breath; 
while he certainly denounced the constitution and assailed the Union. He saw only the moral 
wrong of slavery, its absolute denial of the fundamental principles of the equality of men before 
the law and before God, and the world became his, — where freedom was, there was his country. 
To arouse the dormant conscience of the community by the fierce and unceasing denunciation 
of a great wrong was his mission; and he fulfilled it: but, curiously enough, the end he 
labored for came in the way he least foresaw, and through the very instrumentality he had most 
vehemently denounced, — it came within that Union which he had descrilsed as a compact with 
Death, and under that t'onstitution which he liad arraigned as a covenant with Hell. Yet 
Garrison was undenialily a prophet, voicing the gospel as revealed to liim, fearlessly and 
without pause. As such lie contributed potently to the final result. 

Next Webster. It was the mission of Daniel Webster to ].:>reach nationality. In doing so 
he s]iokc in words of massive eloquence in direct harmonj' witli the most pronounced aspiration 
of his time, — that aspiration which has asserted itself and worked the most manifest results of 
the nineteenth century in both hemispheres, — in Spain and I'russia during the Napoleonic war, 
in Russia during the long Sclavonic upheaval, again more recently in Germany and in Italy, 
and finally in the United States. The names of Stein, of Cavour, and of Bismarck are scarcely 
more associated with this great instinctive movement of the century than is that of Daniel 
Webster. His mission it was to preach to this people Union, one and indivisible; and he de- 
livereil his message. 

The mission of .J. (I. A<lams during his latest and l.)est years, while a cnnibination of that 
of the two others, differed from both. His message, carefully thduglit out, long retained, 
and at last distinctly enunciated, was his answer to the .Jeffersonian theory of state sovereignty, 
and Calhoun's doctrine of nullification and its logical (lutcome, secession. With both theory 
and dcictrine, and their results, lie liad during his long political career been confronted; on 
lioth he had rcllectcd niucli. During the adininistratidU of -Jefferson, and on the question of 
Union, he bad, in bSOT, broken with his ]):irty and resigned from the senate; and with 
Calhoun he had ben closely associated in tlie cabinet of Monroe. Calhoun also liad occupied 
the vice-presidential chair during liis own administration. He now met Calhoun face to face 
on the slavery issue, prophetically iiroclaiming a remedy for the moral wrong and the vindica- 
tion of the rights of man, within the Union and under the constitution, through the exercise 
of inherent war powers, whenever an issue between the sections should assume the insurrec- 
tionary shai)e. In other words, (iarrison's moral result was to lie secured, nut through the 
agencies Garrison advocated, but by force of tliat nationality which Webster proclaimed. This 
solution of the issue, .J. Q. Adams never wearied of enunciating, early and late, by act, speech, 
and letter ; and his view jirevailed in the end. Lincoln's proclamation of -January, 1863, was 
but the formal declaration of the policy enunciated by -J. Q. Adams on the floor of congress in 
IS.'it), and again in 1841, and yet again in greater detail in 1842.' It was lie who thus lirouglit 
the abstract moral doctrines uf Garrison into unison of movement with the nationality of 
Webster. 

The time now drew near when Wisconsin, taking her jilace in tlie Union, was to exert her 
share of influence on the national polity, and through that polity on a pliase of political evo- 
lution. South Carolina, l)y the voice of Calhoun, was preaching reaction, liecause of slavery 
and in defiance of nationality: INIassacliusetts, through Garrison and Webster, was proclaiming 

' See Appendix B. 

(44) 



J)l-;j)l('ATJ()N CKUKMONJKS 

\\\v iiiciral idea nnil iKilionalily as ahstractions; while.). (J. Adams confronted Callioun with 
the ominous contention that, the instant he or his iiad recniii-sc lo force, tliat inshmt thi' mond 
wrong- could he made o(i,iil l,y tlic sword wielded uiidci' t lie cdiisl il ul imi in defence i if tlie hiiinn. 

As 1848 waxed old, the dehate grew angry. -J. Q. Adams died in the early months of that 
nieniorahle year; hut his death in no way affected the course of events. The leadership in the 
anti-slavery struggle on tlic floor of congress and within tlie limits of tlie constitution had 
already passed from him lour years since. Too old longer to liear tlie weight of armor, he 
could not wield the once familiar weapons; but the effects of liis teacliings remained, and 
were living realities wdierever the New England column liad penetrated,— throughout central 
New York, in "the Western Reserve," and especially in the region which bordered on Lake 
Michigan. Garrison still declaimed against the Union as an unholy alliance with sin; while in 
the mind of Webster, sense of the wrong of slavery was fast being overweighted by apprehen- 
sion for nationality. Meanwhile, a war of criminal aggression against Mexico in behalf of Cal- 
houn's reactionary movement had been brought to a close, and the (luestion was as to the parti- 
tion of plunder. On that, great issues hinged, and over it was fought tlie presidential election of 
1848. A little more than fifty years ago, that was the first such election in which Wisconsin 
participated. The number of those wdio now retain a distinct recollection of the canvass of 
1848 and the questions then so earnestly debated are not many; I chance to be one of those 
few. I recall one trifling incident, connected not with the canvass but with the events of that 
year, which, for some reason, made an impression upon me, and now^ illustrates curiously the 
remoteness of the time. I have said that J. Q. Adams died in February, 1848. Carried back 
wdth much funereal pomp from the Capitol at Washington to Massachusetts, he was in March 
buried at Quincy. An eloquent discourse was- there delivered over his grave by the minister 
of the church of which the ex-president had been a member. He who delivered it was a scholar, 
as well as a natural orator of high order; and, in the course of -what he said he had occasion to 
refer to this remote region, then not yet admitted to statehood, and he did so under the name 
of " the Ouisconsin." That di scon i-se was delivered on the IKIi of March, 1848; and, on the 
29th of the following May Wisconsin liecame a state. 

Returning now to the presidential election of 1848, it will he found that Wisconsin, the 
youngest community in the Union, came at once to the front as the banner state of the West 
in support of the principles on whii-h the Union was established, and the maintenance and vin- 
dication of those fundamental principles within the Union and througli the constitution. In 
that canvass the great issues of the future -^vere distinctly brought to the front. The old party 
organizations then still confronted each other,— the Henry Clay Whigs were over against the 
Jacksonian Democracy. But in 1848 Lewis Cass was the logical candidate of the Democracy. 
Then a Northern man with Southern principles,— so far as African slavery was concerned a 
distinct reactionist from the principles of the great Declaration of 1776,— Lewis Cass, of Michi- 
gan, saw the path of duty clearly enough, following it with a tirm tread, when thirteen years 
afterwards the ordeal came. Ikit, in 1848, he, as nominee of llie-lacksonianDemocracy, was op- 
posed to Gen. Zachary Taylor, of Louisiana, who had supei-seded Henry Clay as the candidate 
of the party which Clay had called into being. Himself a slave holder, with jjolitical affilia- 
tions unknown, if existent, (Jeneral Taylor was nominated by a jiarty whii'h in presenting his 
name carefully abstained from any enunciation of principles. An unknown jiolitical quantity, 
no less a public character than Daniel Webster characterized his nomination as one not tit to 
be made. It yet remained to be seen that, practically, the plain, blunt, honest, well-meaning 
old soldier made an excellent president, whose premature death -was deeply and with reason 

(45) 



WISCONSIN STATE HISTOEICAL LIBRARY BUILDING " 

(k'plorc'd. His noniiuation, however, immediately after that of Cass, proved the signal for re- 
volt. For the diseijiles of J. Q, Adams in both pohtical camps, it was as if the cry had again 
gone forth, " To your tents, Israel ! " — and a first fierce blast of the coming storm then swept 
across the land. In August the dissentients met in conference at Buffalo, and there first enun- 
ciated the principles of the American political party of the future, — that party which, per- 
meated by the sentiment of nationality, was destined to do away with slavery through the war 
power, and to incorporate into the constitution the principle of the equality of man before the 
law, irrespective of color or of race. Now, more than half a century after the event, it may fairly 
be said of those concerned in the Buffalo movement of 1848 that they were to earn in the ful- 
ness of time tlie rare distinction of initiating a party movement destined to carry mankind for- 
ward one distinct stage in the long process of evolution. In support of that movement Wis- 
consin was, as I have already said, the banner western state. In its action it simply responded 
to its early impulse received from New England and western New York. Thus did the seed 
fall in fertile places, and i^roduce fruit. The law of natural selection, though not yet formulated, 
was at work. 

The election returns of 1848 tell the story. They are still eloquent. The heart of the 
movement of that year lay in Massachusetts and Vermont. In those two states, taken together, 
the party of the future polled, in 1848, a little over 28 per cent of the aggregate vote cast. In 
Wisconsin it polled close upon 27 per cent; and this 27 per cent in Wisconsin is to be com- 
parted with 15 per cent in Michigan, 12 per cent in Illinois, less than 11 per cent in Ohio, and 
not 4 per cent in the adjoining state of Iowa. In the three neighboring states of Michigan, Illinois, 
and Iowa, taken together, the new movement gathered into itself 12 per cent of the total voting 
constituency, while in Wisconsin it counted, as I have said, over 26 per cent. Thus, in 1848, 
Wisconsin was the Vermont of the West; sending to Congress as one of its three representatives 
Charles Durkee, himself a son of ^^ermont, the first distinctively anti-slavery man chosen from 
the Northwest. Wisconsin remained the Vermont of the West. From its very origin, not 
the smallest doubt attached to its attitude. It emphasized it in words when in 1849 it instructed 
one of its senators at Washington "to immediately resign his seat" because he had "outraged 
the feelings of the people " by dalliance with the demands of the slave power; it emphasized it 
by action when five years later its highest judicial tribunal did not hesitate to declare the Fugi- 
tive Slave Law of 1850 " unconstitutional and void." At the momentous election of 1860, Wis- 
consin threw 56 per cent of its vote in favor of tlie ticket bearing at its head the name of Abraham 
Lincoln; nor did the convictions of the state weaken under the grim test of war. In 1864, 
when \\'isconsin had sent into the field over 90,000 enlisted men to maintain the Union, and to 
make effective the most extreme doctrine of war powers under the constitution, — even then, 
in the fourth year of severest stress, Wisconsin again threw 55 per cent of its popular vote for 
the reelection of Lincoln. A year later the straggle ended. Throughout, Wisconsin never 
faltered. 

Of the record made by Wisconsin in the Civil War, I am not here to speak. That field has 
been sufficiently covered, and covered by those far better qualified for the task than I. I will 
only say, in often quoted words, that none then died more freely or in greater glory than those 
Wisconsin sent into the field, though then many died, and there was much glory. When figures 
so speak, comment weakens. Look at the record : — Fifty-seven regiments and thirteen batter- 
ies in the field; a death list exceeding 12,000; a Wisconsin regiment (2d) first in that roll of 
honor which tells off the regiments of the Union which suffered most, and two other Wisconsin 
regiments (7th and 26th), together, fifth; while a brigade, made up three quarters of Wisconsin 

(46) 



DEIJICA Tl ON CEBEMONIES 

battalions, shows llu- liraviest aggregate loss sustained during the Avar Iiy any similar command, 
and is lieni-e known in the liistory of the struggle as the " Iron Brigade." Thirteen Wisconsin 
regiments participated in Grant's brilliant movement on Vicksburg; five were with Thomas at 
Chickamauga; seven witli Sltorman at Mission Ridge; and, finally, eleven marched with liim to 
tht' sea, while lour rciiiaiiicd behind to strike with Thomas at Nashville. Thus it may li'iily Ije 
said that wherever, between the 13th of April, 1861, and tlie 2(;tli of April, 1865, deatli was 
reaping its heaviest harvest, — whether in Pennsylvania, in \'ii-giiiia, in Tennessee, in Missis- 
sippi, in Georgia, — at Shiloh, at Corintli, at Antietani, at Gettysburg, in the sahent at Spott- 
sylvania, in the death-trap at Petersburg, or in the I'eninsula. slaughter-pen, — wherever during 
those awful years the dead lay tliiekest, there the men from Wisconsin were freely laying down 
their lives. 

But, as I said, to set forth here your sacrifices in the contest of 1861-65 is not my pur- 
pose now. What I have undertaken to do is to assign to Wisconsin its proper and relative 
place as a fa<'lor in one of the great evolutionary movements of man. As the twig was bent 
the tree inclined. The sacrifices of Wisconsin life and treasure between 1861 and 1865 were 
but the fulfilment of the i)romise given by Wisconsin in 1848. Tlie state, it is true, at no time 
during that momentous struggle rose to a jiosition of uneliallenged leadershiji either in the field 
or the council chamber. Among its representatives it did not number a Lincoln or a Shei-man; 
Init it did supply in marked degree that greatest and most necessary of all essentials in every 
evolutionary crisis, a well-developed and thoroughly distributed popular backbone. 

This racial characteristic, also, I take to be the one great essential to the success of our 
American experiment. In every emergency which arises there is always the cry raised for a 
strong hand at the helm, — the ship of state is invariably declared to be hopelessly drifting. 
But it is in just those times of crisis that a widely diffused individuality proves the greatest 
possible safeguard, — the only reliable public safeguard. It is then witii the state as il is with 
a strong, seaworthy sliij) manned by a hardy and experienced crew, in no way dei)endent on 
the one I'ilot who may chance to l)e at the wheel. In any stress of storm, the ship's company 
will prove equal to the occasion, and somehow provide for its own salvation. Under similar 
political conditions, a community asserts, in the long run, its suiieriority to the accidents of 
fortune, — the aberrations due to the influence of individual genius, those wimiing numbers in 
the lottery of fate, — and evinces that staying power which, n(j less iio\\- and hei-e than in lionie an<l 
Great Britain, is the only .safe rock of empire. The race thus educated and endowed is the 
masterful race, — the master of its own destiny, it is master of the destiny of others; and of 
that crow'ning republican quality, Wisconsin, during our period of national trial, showed her- 
self markedly possessed. While individuals were not exceptional, the average was unmis- 
takably high. 

And this I hold to be the highest tribute which can be paid to a jiolitieal comnuniity. It 
implies all else. Unless I greatly err, this characteristii' has, in the case of Wisconsin, a ]iro- 
found and scientific significance of the most far-reaching character; and so I find myself firouglit 
back to my text. As I have already more than once said, others are in every way better quali- 
fied than I to speak intelligently of the Wisconsin stock, — of the elements which enter into the 
brain and l)one and sinew of the race now holding as its abiding-iilace and l)reeding-ground the 
region lying between Lake Michigan and the waters of the upper Mississippi, — between the 
state of Illinois on the south and Lake Superior on the north. I speak chiefly from impression, 
and always subject to correction; but my understanding is that this region was in the main 
peopled by men and women representing in their persons what there was of the more enter- 

(47) 



VKDICA TION CEIiKMONIES 

prising, adventurous, and energetic of three of the most thoroughly virile and, withal, moral 
and intellectual hranches of the human family, — I refer to the Anglo-Saxon of New England 
descent, and to the Tcutcmic ;iiid llic Scandinavian families. Tmigh <>f llln'e and tenacious of 
lirincijile, the mixed descendants IVdui those races wei'c well r:ilculate<l Id illustrate the operation 
of a natural law; and I have ([uite failed in my i>uri)()se if I liinc iml iiii|ii-(ived this oceasinn to 
jioint out hciw in the outset of their piilitical life as a coiinuunity they illustrated the force of 
Stoughton's utterance and the truth of Darwin's remarkahle generalization. By tlieir attitude 
and action, at once intelligent and decided, they left their imjirint on that particular phase of 
human evt)lutinii which then presenlt'd itself. Tliey, in so doing, assigned to Wisconsin its 
special place and work in the great scheme of development and forecast its mission in the 
future. 

I have propounded an historic;d theory; it is for others, hettor advised, having passed upon 
it, to confirm or reject. 

There are many other tojiics which might here and now 1)C discussed, perhaps advanta- 
geously, — tu]iics t'losely connected with this edifice and with the oceasinn, — to])ics relating to 
libraries, the accumulation of historical material, and methods of work in connection Avith it; 
but space and time alike forbid. A selection must be made; and, in making my selection, I 
go back to the fact that, representing one historical society, I am iiere at the behest of 
another historical society; and matters relating to what we vM "history" are, therefore, 
those most germane to the day. Coming, then, here from the East to a point wliicb, in 
the great future of our American development, — a century, or, jierchance, two or three 
centuries hence, — may not unreasonably look forward to lieing the seat of other methods 
and a higher learning, I ])roi)ose to pass over the nioiv obviiais and, jiossibly, the more 
useful, even if more modest, subjects of discussion, and t(.> try my haml at one which, even 
if it challenges controversy, is indisputably suggestive. I retV'r to eerlaiii of tlie more marked 
of those tendencies which cbaraeterize the historical work of the ilay. 1 hiving dealt with the 
sifted grain, I naturally come to speak of those who have told the tale of the sifting. Looking 
back, from the standpoint of li)()(), over the harvested slieaves which stud the fields we have 
traversed, the retrospect is not to me altogether satisfactory. In fact, taken as a whole, our 
histories — I speak of those Avritten by the dead only — have not, I sulnnit, so far as we are 
concerned, fully met the I'eiiuireiiients of time and place. Literary masterpieces, scientific 
treatises, iihilosophical disi|iiisitioiis, sometimes one eleiiieiit predominates, sometimes another; 
but in them all, sometlnng is wanting. That something 1 take to be a fully developed, as well 
as nicely balanced, .sense of what I will describe as the historico-literary form. 

In dealing with this subject, I am well aware my criticism migijt take a wider range. I need 
not confine nryself to history, inasmuch as, in the matter of literary sense, the shortcomings, 
or the excesses rather, of the American writer, are manifest. In the Greek, and in the Greek 
alone, this sense seems to liave been instinctive. He revealeil it, and he revealed it at once, in 
poetry, in architecture, ami in art, as lie revealed it in the com|)(]silion of history. Of Homer 
we cannot speak; but IIerod(jtus and I'liidias died within six years of eacli other, each a father 
in his calling. With us Americans that intuitive literary sense, resulting in the perfection of 
literary form, seems not less noticealde for its absence than among the Greeks it was conspicu- 
ous for its presence. In literature the American seems to exist in a medium of stenographers 
and typewriters, and with a public printer at his beck and call. To such a degree is this the 
case that the expression I have just used — literary form — has, to many, and those not the least 
vii (49) 



WISCONSIN STATE IIISTOBICAL LIBEARY BUILDING 

fiiltuved, ceased to carry a meaning. Litcrarj' form tliey take to mean wliat they know as style; 
wliile style is, with them, hut another term for word-painting. Accordingly, witli altogether too 
many of our Ann'rican writers, to l)e voluminous and verbose is to 1)8 great. They would 
conciuer liy force of numbers — the number of words they use. I, the other day, chanced across 
a curious illustration of this in the diary of my father. Returning from his long resiclence in 
England at the time of the Civil War, he attended some ceremonies held in Boston in honor of 
a public character who had died shortly l)etV)re. "The eulogy," he wrote, "was good l)ut al- 
together too long. There is in all the American style of composition a tendency to diffuseness, 
and the repetition of the same ideas, which materially impairs the force of what is said. I see 
it the more clearly from having l>een so long out of the atmosphere." 

The failing is national; nor in this respect does the American seem to iirofit l)y experience. 
Take, for instance, the most important of our i)ulilic documents, the inaugurals of our presidents. 
"We are a busy people; yet our newly elected ))residents regularly inflict on us comjiendiums 
(_)f public information, and this, too, notwithstanding the fact that in the long line of inaugural 
commonplaces but one utterance stands out in memory, and that one tlic sliortest of all, — the 
immortal second of Lincoln. Our jiresent cliief magistrate found himself unable to do justice 
to the occasion, in his last annual message, in less than eighteen thousand words; and in the 
congress to which this message was addressed, two senators, in discussing the " paramount" 
issue of the day, did so, the one in a speech of sixty-five thousand words; the other in a speech 
of fifty-five thousand. Webster replied to Hayne in thirty-five thousand; nor did Webster tlren 
err on the side of l)revity. So in the presidential canvass now in progress. Mr. Bryan 
accepted his noinination in a comparatively brief speech of nine thousand words; and this 
speecli was followed liy a letter of five thousand, covering omissions because of previous 
brevity. I'resident McKinley, in his turn, then accei^ted a renomination in a letter of twelve 
thousand words, — a letter actually terse when compared with his last annual message; but 
which Mr. Carl Schurz subsequently proceeded to comment on in a vigorous address of fourteen 
thousand words. Lcviatlians in language, we Anierii.-nis, if instructed, need to be Methuselahs 
in years. It was not always so. The contrast is, indeed, noticeable. Washington's first in- 
augural numbered twenty-three hundred words. Including that now in progress, my memory 
covers fourteen presidential canvasses; and by far the most generally applauded and efiective 
letter of acceptance put forth by any candidate during all those canvasses was that of Cenei'al 
Grant in 1868. Including address and signature, it was comprised in exactly two hundred 
and thirty words. With a brevity truly commendal)le, even if military, he used (.me woi'd where 
his civilian successor found occasion for fifty-two. As to the oi)]ionent of tliat civilian suc- 
cessor, lie sets computation at defiance. Indeed, sjieaking of Mr. Bryan purely from the liis- 
torical standpoint, I seriously doubt whether, in all human experience, any man ever before 
gave utterance to an eriual number of words in the same time. 

Leaving illustration, however, and returning to my theme, I will now say that in the whole 
long and memorable list (jf distinctively American literary men, — authors, orators, poets, and 
story-tellers, — I recall but three who seem to me to have been endoAved with a sense of form, at 
once innate and Greek; those three were Daniel Webster, Edgar Allan Poe, and Nathaniel Llaw- 
tliorne. Yet, unless moulded by that instinctive sense of form, nothing can be permanent in 
Uterature any more than in sculpture, in painting, or in architecture. Not size, nor solidity, 
nor fidelity of work, nor knowledge of detail, will preserve the printed volume any more than 
they will preserve the canvas or the edifice; and tliis I hold to be just as true of history as of 
the oration, the poem, or the drama. 

(50) 



DEDICATION CEBEMONIKS ^ 

Suvrly, tliiii. mil' liislorics need iKil ;ill, of lU'cL'Ssiiy, l)o ilcsi^ncd for siiHlcnts ami sdiolars 
oxclusivoly; aiul yrl it is a notcwdilliy Tact tliat even lo-day, at'((>r sclinlars and st(.)ry-l(dl(_TS 
liavo l)L'on steadily al work 111)011 it for nearly a century and a half, — ever since DaA'id IIuiiu' 
and Oliver (ioldsniitli lirout^ht forth their classic renderings, — the chief popular knowledge of 
over three c-eiituries of I'jiglish history hetween John Plantagenet (1200) and Elizabeth Tudor 
(15oti) is deriveil from the i)agcs of Sliakespeare. There is also a cui'ioiis theory now appar- 
ently in vogue in our uniwrsity circles, that, in some inscrutahle way, accuracy as to fact 
and a judicial temperament are inconsistent Math a highly developed literary sense. Erudition 
and fairness are the qualities in vogue, while form and brilliancy are viewed askance. Address- 
ing now an assembly made up, to an unusual extent, of those engaged in the work of instruction 
in history, I wish to suggest that this marked tendency of the day is in itself a passing fashion, 
and merely a react.ion;iry nii)\('ment against the influence of two great litiM'ary masters of tlie 
last generation, Macaulay and Carlyle. That the reaction had reason, I would by no means 
deny; but, like most decided reactions, has it not gone too far ? Because men weary of brilliant 
colors, and mere imitators try to wield tiie master's brush, it by no means follows that art does 
not find its liighest exi)ression in Titian and Tintoretto, Rembrandt, ('laude, and Turner. It is 
the same with history. Profound scholars, patient investigators, men of a judicial turn of mind, 
subtile philosophers, and accurate annalists empty forth upon a patient, because somewhat in- 
different, reading public volume after volume; but the great masters of literary form, in history 
as in poetry, alone retain their hold. Thucyclides, Tacitus, and Gibbon are always there, on a 
level with the eye; while those of their would-be successors who find themselves unable to tell 
us Avhat they kno^v, in a way in whicli we care to hear it, or within limits consistent with 
human life, are quietly relegated to the oblivion of the topmost shelf. 

I fear that I am myself in danger of sinning somewhat flagrantly against the canons I have 
laid down. Exceeding my allotted si)aee, I am conscious of disreganling any correct rule of 
form by my attempt at dealing with more subjects than it is possilile on one occasion adequately 
to discusa. None the less I t-annot resist the temptation, — I am proving myself an American; 
and having gone thus far, I \\\\\ now go on to the end, even though alone. There are, I hold, 
three elements which enter into the iiiake-u]i ()f the ideal histoi'ian, whether him of the past or 
him of the future; — these three are learning, judgment, ami the literary sense. A perfect his- 
tory, like a perfect poem, must have a lieginning, a middle, and an end; an<l the well pro- 
portioned parts should be kejit in strict subservience to the whole. The dress, also, should be 
in keeping with the substance; and both subordinated to the conception. Attempting no dis- 
play of erudition, pass the great historical literatures and names in rapiil review, and see in 
how^ few instances all these canons were observed. And first, tlie Hebrew. While the Jew cer- 
tainly was not endowed with tlie (ireek's sense <A form in seulpliire, in painting, or in aix-hitec- 
ture, in poetry and music he was, and has since been, i>i'ei'miiieiit. His philosophy and his 
liistoiy found their natural expression through his aptitudes. The result illustrates the 
supreme intellectual power exercised by art. Of learning and judgment tliere is only pretence; 
but imagination and i)ower are there: and, even to this day, the Tfehrew historical writings are 
a distinct literature, — we call them "The Sacred Books." We have iiassed from under that 
superstition; and yet it still holds a traditional sway. The hooks of Moses are merely a first 
tentative effort on the road siilise(iueiitly trodden by Ileroilof us, Livy, and \'oltaire; but tlieir 
author was so instinct with imagination and such a master of foiaii, that to this day his narrative 
is read and accepted as histoi'y by more human beings than aiv all the other historical works 
iia existence combined in one mass. No scholar or man of relleetion now believes that Moses, 

(51) 



WISCONSIN STATE HISTOmCAL LIBFAEY BUILDING 

or wlicievei- cnrielied the liuman race witli what ai'e known as the books of Moses, was any 
more inspired than Homer or the Homeridaj, Julius Ca?sar, or Thomas Carlyle; but the im- 
agination and intellectual force of the author, be he poet or prophet, combined with his instinct 
for literary form, sufficed to secure for what he wrote a unique mastery only in our day shaken.' 

The Greek follows hard upon the Jew; and of the Greek I have already said enough. He 
liad a natural sense of art in all its shapes; and, when it came to writing history, Herodotus, 
Thucydides, andXenophon seemed mere evolutions. ()f the throe, Thucydides alone combined 
in perfection the qualities of erudition, judgment, and form; ])ut to the last-named element, 
their literary form, it is that all tlircc owe their immortality. 

It is the same with the Romans,— Livy, Salkist, Tacitus. Tlie Roman had not tliat artistic 
instinct so noticeable in tlie Greek. He was, on the contrary, essentially a soldier, a ruler, and 
organizer; and a literary imitator. Yet now and again even in art he attained a proficiency 
which challenged his models. Cicero lias held liisown witli Demosthenes; and Virgil, Horace, 
and Juvenal survive, each througli a mastery of foiun. Tacitus, it is needless to say, is the 
Latin Thucydides. In him again, five centuries after Thucydides, the three essentials are com- 
bined in the highest degree. The orbs of the great historical constellation are wide apart,— 
the interval that divided Tacitus from Thucydides is the same as that which divided Matthew 
Paris from Edward Gibbon; — twice that which divides Shakespeare from Tennyson. 

Coming rapidly down to modern times, of the three great languages fruitful in historical 
^yyi-k, — tlie French, English, and German, — tliose writing in tlie first liave alone approached 
the aptitude for form natural to the Greeks; Imt in (Jibbon only of those who have, in tlie 
three tongues, devoted themselves to historical work, were all the cardinal elements of historical 
greatness found united in such a degree as to command general assent to his preeminence. 
The Germans are remarkalile for erudition, and have won respect for their judgment; but 
their disregard of form has lieen innate, — indicative eitlier of a lack of perception or of con- 
tempt." Their work accordingly will hardly prove enduring. The French, from Voltaire down, 
have evinced a keener perception of form, nor have they been lacking in erudition. Critical and 
(juick to i)erceive, thej' have still failed in any one instance to combine the three great attributes 
each in its highest degree. Accordingly in the historical firmament they count no star of the 
lirst magnitude. Their lights have been meteoric rather than ])crmanciit. 

In the case of ( ireat Britain it is interesting to follow the familiar names, noting the short- 
coming of each. The roll scarcely extends beyond the centui'v, — Hume, Robertson, and Gibbon 
constituting the solitary remembered exceptions. Of Gibbon, I have already spoken. He com- 
bined in highest degree all the elements of the historian, — in as great a degree as Thucydides 
or Tacitus. He was an orb of the first order; and it was his misfortune that he was born and 
wrote before Darwin gave to history unity and a scheme. Flume was a subtile philosopher, 
and his instinctive mastery of form has alone caused his liistory to survive. He was not an 
investigator in the modern senst' of the term, nor was he gifted with an intuitive historical 
instinct. Robertson had fair judgment and a well-developed, though in no way remarkable, 
sense of form; but lie lacked erudition, and, as compared with Gibbon, for example, was con- 



' Sec Appendix (". 

- •' Not only does a German writer possess, as a rule, a full measure of the patient industry whieli is re- 
quired for thinfiing everything that may be thought about his theme, and knowing what others have 
thought: he alone, it seems, when he comes to write a book about it, is imbued with the belief that that 
book ought necessarily to lie a complete compendium of everything that has been so thought, whether by 
himself ov others."— I'/k- xlthcincnm, September 8, 1900, p. 303. 

{52) 



DKDICA TION CKRIiMOlS'TES 

li'iil l<i ncccpt liis kno\v1('ilo-o at second luiml. Trlliiiii- Ijis .slory well, lie was never master of 
liis sulijret. 

('liming' down to our own eculnry, and sj^'akiny- only "F llir dead, a series ol' familial- names 
at onee sntj'tj'est themselves, — Mitfoi'd, (Irote, and Tliirhvall; Arnold and Meri\-ale; Milman, 
l>iny'ard, llallam, iMacaulay, Carlyle, Buekle, Froude, Freeniiui, and ( Jreen, — naming only the 
more eiuis])ieuous. jMitford was no ]nsti)rian at all. Merely an liistorieal iiamphleteer, his 
judgment was inferior even to his erudition, and he had no sense of form, (.irote was erudite, 
but he wrote in accordance with his political affinities, and what is called the spirit of the time 
and place; and that time and place were not Greece, nor the tliird and fourth centuries before 
Christ. He had, moreover, no sense of literary form, for he put what he knew into twelve 
volumes, when human patience did not suffice for six. Thirlwall was erudite in a way, and a 
thinker and writer of unquestionable force; but his work on Greece was written to order, and 
is what is known as a " standard history." Correct, but devoid of inspiration, it is slightly 
suggestive of a second-class epic. Arnold is typical of scholarship and insiglit; his judgment 
is excellent: but of literary art, so conspicuous in his son, there is no trace. Merivale is 
scholarly and academic. Milman was hampered by his clmrch training, winch fettered his 
judgment; learned, as learning went in those days, there is in his writings nothing that would 
attract readers or students of a period later than his own. Lingard was another church his- 
torian. A correct writer, he tells England's story from the point of view of Rome. . Hallam is 
deeply read and judicial; but the literary sense is conspicuously absent. His volumes, already 
superseded, are well-nigh unreadable. Freeman is the typical modern historian of the original- 
material-and-monograph school. He writes irrespective of readers. Learned ))eyondcompai'e, 
he cumbers the shelves of our libraries witli an accumulation of volumes winch are not litera- 
ture. 

Of Henry Thomas Buckle and of .John Richard Green I will speak together, and witli re- 
spectful admiration. Both were prematurely cut off, almost in what with historical writers is 
the period of promise; for, while Green at the time of his death was forty-seven, Buckle was 
not yet forty-one. What tJiey did, therefore, — and thej^ both did much, — was indicative only 
of what they miglit have done. .Judged by that, — ex pedc Ilcrculeiii, — I hold tliat tliey come 
nearer to the ideal of what a twentieth-century historian sliould be than any other writers in 
our modern English tongue. That Buckle was crude, impulsive, hasty in generalization, and 
paradoxical in judgment is not to be gainsaid; — but he wrote before Darwin; and, when he 
published his history, he was but thirty-six. \\'Iiat might he not have become had he been 
favored with health, and lived to sixty? Very different in organization, he and Green alike 
possessed in high degree the spirit of investigation and the historical insight, combined with 
a well-developed literary sense. Men of untiring research, they had the faculty of expression. 
Artists as well as scholars, they inspired. Their early death was, in my judgment, an irrepa- 
rable loss to English historical lore and the best liistorieal treatment. 

I come now to Macaulay, Carlyle, and Froude, the three literary masters of the century 
who have dealt with history in the English tongue; and I sliall treat of them briefly, and in 
the inverse order. Froude is redeemed by a sense of literary form; as an historian he was 
learned, hut inaccurate, and his judgment was fatally defective. He was essentially an artist. 
Carlyle was a poet rather than an historian. A student, with the insight of a seer and a 
prophet's voice, his judgment was fatally biased. A wonderful master of form, his writings 
will endure; but rather as epics in prose than as historical monuments. Macaulay came, in 
my judgment, nearer than any other English writer of the century to the great historical stat- 

(53) 



WISCONSIN STATE HISTOBICAL LIBMAEY BUILDING 

ure; luit he failed to attain it. The cause of his faihire is an instructive as well as an interest- 
ing study. 

Thomas Bahington Macaulay is unquestionalily the most popular historian that ever wrote. 
His history, when it appeared, was the literary sensation of the day, and its circulation in- 
creased witli each succeeding volume. Among historical Avorks, it alone has in its vogue 
thrown into the shade the most successful novels of the century, — those of Scott, Thackeray, 
and Dickens, Jane Eyre, Rohert Elsmere, and even Richard Carvel, the last ephemeral sensa- 
tion; but, of the three great attributes of the historian, Macaulay was endowed with only one. 
Hie was a man of vast erudition; and, moreover, he was gifted with a phenomenal memory, 
whicli seemed to put at his immediate disposal the entire accumulation of his omnivorous read- 
ing. His judgment was, however, defective; for he was, from the very ardor of his nature,' 
more or less of a partisan, while the wealth of his imagination and the exuberance of his rhet- 
oric were fatal to his sense of form. He was incomparablj^ the greatest of historical racon- 
teurs, ])ut the fascination of the story overcame his sense of proportion, and he was buried 
under his own riches. For, as I have already intimated, it is a great mistake to suppose, as so 
many do, that what is called style, no matter how brilliant, or how correct and clear, constitutes 
in itself literary form; it is a large and indispensable element in literary form, but neither the 
wliole, nor indeed the greatest part of it. The entire scheme, the proportion of the several parts 
to the whole and to each other, the grouping and the presentation, the background and the ac- 
cessories, constitute literary form; tlie style of the author is merely the drapery of presentation. 
Here was where Macaulay failed; and he failed on a point which the average historical writer, 
and the average historical instructor still more, does not as a rule even take into consideration. 
Macaulay's general conception of his scheme was so imperfect as to be practically impossible; 
and this he himself, when too late, sadly recognized. His interest in his subject and the warmth 
of his imagination swept liim away, — tliey were too strong for his sense of proportion. Take, 
for instance, two such wonderful bits as his account of the trial of the seven bishops, and liis 
narrative of the siege of Londonderry. They are masterpieces; but they should be monographs. 
They are in their imagery and detail out of all proportion to any general historical plan. They 
imjily a whole which would be in itself an historical lil)rary rather than a history. On the 
matter of judgment it is not necessary to dwell. Macaulay's work is unquestionably history, 
and history on a panoramic scale; but the pigments he used are indisputably Whig. Yet his 
method was instinctively correct. He had liis models and his scheme, — he made his prelimi- 
nary studies, — he saw his subject as a whole, and in its several parts; but he lal;>ored under two 
disadvantages: — In the first place, like Gil)li()n, he was liorn and wrote liefoi-e tlie discoveries 
of Darwin had given its wliolo great unity to history; and, in the second place, he bad not 
thought his jilan fully out, subordinating severely to it l)oth his imagination and his rhetoric. 
Accordingly, so far as literarj'' form was concerned, his bistorj^, which in tbat respect al)Ove all 
should, with his classic training, have been an entire and perfect chrysolite, was in fact a mon- 
umental failure. It was not even a whole; it was only a fragment. 



' " It is well to realize that this g-reatest history of modem times was written by one iu whom a distrust 
in enthusiasm was deeply rooted. This cynicism was not inconsistent with partiality, with definite prepos- 
sessions, with a certain spite. The conviction that enthusiasm is inconsistent with intellectual balance was 
engrained in his mental constitution, and confirmed by study and experience. It might be reasonably 
maintained that zeal for men or causes is an historian's undoing, and that 'reserve sympathy '—the prin- 
ciple of Thueydides — is the first lesson he has to learn."— J. B. Bury, Introduction to his edition (1896) of 
Gibljon, vol. i, pp. Ixvii, Ixviii. 

(54) 



DKDICA TION CKUKMONfKS 

('(iniin.u- iKiw III mil' own Anicric'iii cxiici'iciicc imd si ill speaking excliisi\-cly nf llic wril- 
iiii^s (if llic ilr:iil, il is iiol inisair In s:iy lluit tlirff is as yet no American histoi'ical \\ui-k wliirli 
ean rail e\fn fur nienliiiii aim ing those of the firsi class. The lis! ran sjici'ihly he passed in 
re\'i('\v, — Marsliall, Irviiii;-, I'rescott, ITildretli, Bancrnft, Mulley, I'alfn'y, and I'avkiiian. ICx- 
cepl Ihiisi' yet livinii', I >V) nol I'ecall any ulliers wliii wduld challenL;'!' cunsidei-atiuii. That 
Ahirshall was emlnwed with a ('alin, clear juilyinent, nu readev nf his judicial npinions would 
deny; hut he had mi othiT attrihute ef an historian. He certainly was nnl historically learned, 
and there is no evidence that he was gifted with any sens(^ of literai'y iiropni'tion. Ii'\'ing was 
a horn man of letlers. Willi a chariiiiiic- style and a keen sense of hunior, he was as an his- 
torical writer delV'ctive in judiinienl. Nut a iirofound or accurate investigator, as hecame 
apparent in his Columlius and his ^^'asIlingt(ln, his c.xccllent natural hterary sense was lint 
partially developed. Perhaps he was horn liefore his time; perhajis his education did not lead 
him to the study of the hest models; hut, however it came ahout, he failed, and failed iiidispii- 
tahly, in form. Prescott was a species of historical pioneer, — an adventurer in a new field of 
research and of letters. Not only was he, like Macaulay and the rest, horn hefore Darwin and 
the other great scientific lights of the century had assigned to human history its unity, limits, 
and significance, hut Prescott was not a profound scholar, nor yet a thorough investigator; his 
judgment was liy no means either incisive or rohust, and his style was elegant, as the phrase 
goes, rather than tersely vigorous. He wrote, moreover, of that wdiich he iiever saw, or made 
himself thoroughly part of even in imagination. Lahoring under great disadvantages, his 
course was infinitely creditable; hut his portrait in the gallery of historians is not on tlie eye 
line. Of Hildreth, it is hardly necessary to speak. Laborious and persevering, his investigation 
w'as not thorough; indeed lie had not taken in the fundamental conditions of modi.'rn historical 
research. With a fatally defective .iudgment, he did not know wdiat form was. 

George Bancroft was in certain ways unique, and, among writers and students, his name 
cannot be mentioned without respect. He was by nature an investigator. His learning and 
philosophy cannot be called sound, and his earlier manner was something to lie forever avoided; 
but he was indefatigable as a collector, and his jiatience knew no hounds. He devott'd his life 
to his suliject; and his life came to a close while he was still dwelling on the iireliminaries to 
his theme. A partisan, and writing in supjuirt of a prec-onceived theory, his judgment was 
necessarily biased; wdiile, as respects literary form, thougli he always tended to what was 
better, he never even aiiproximately readied what is best. He, too, like Macaulay, failed lo 
grasp the wide and fundamental distinction between a proiiortioned and complete history and 
a thorough historical monograph. His monumental work, therefore, is neither the one nor the 
other. As a collection of monograplis, it is too condensed and imperfect; as a history, it is 
cumbersome, and enters into unnecessary detail. 

From a literary point of view. Motley is unquestionably the most brilliant of American 
historical writers. He reminds the reader of Froude. Not naturally a patient or iirofound 
investigator, he yet forced himself to make a thorough study of his great subject, ami he was 
gifted with a remarkable descriptive power. A man of intense personality, he was, liowever, 
defective in judgment, if not devoid of the faculty. He lacked calmness and method. He could 
describe a siege or a battle with a vividness wliich, while it revealed the master, revealed also 
the historian's limitations. With a distinct sense of literary form, he was unable to resist tlie 
temptations of imagination and sympathy. His taste was not severe; his temiier the reverse 
of serene. His defects as an historian are consequently as ap])arent as arc his merits as a 
writer. 

(55) 



**fi?f5»-:-. 







A CORRIDOR BENCH 



DEDICA TLON CEBEMONIES 

or raU'rcy, tlie liislorinn, T would sponk witli the deep personal respect I entertained for 
Ww uKiu. A (ypical New Knoiander, a viclim almost of that " terrible New England con- 
seionee," ho wrott' llio history of New England. A scholar in his way, and the most patient of 
investigators, \\v had, as an Iristorian, been brought up in a radically wrong school, that of New 
England theology. There was in him not a trace of the skeptic; not a suggestion of the 
humorist or easy-going philosoplier. He wrote of New England from the inside, and in close 
syiii])athy witli it. Thus, as respects learning, care, and accuracy, he was in no way deficient, 
while he was iiainstaking and conscientious in extreme. His training and mental cliaracteristics, 
however, impaired liis judgment, and he was quite devoid of any sense of form. The investi- 
gator will always liave recourse to his work; but, as a guide, its value will pass away with 
the traditions of the New England tlicological period. From tlie literary point of view the 
absence of all idea of proportion renders the bulk of what he wrote impossible for the reader. 

Of those [ have mentioned, Parkman alone remains; perhaps the most individual of all 
our American historians, the one tasting most racily of the soil. Parkman did what Prescott 
failed to do, what it was not in Prescott ever to do. He wrote from the basis of a personal 
knowledge of the localities in which what he had to narrate occurred, and the charactei'istics 
of tliose with whom he undertook to deal. To his theme he devoted his entire life, working 
unik'r difficulties even greater than those which so cruelly hampered Prescott. His patience 
under suffering was infinite; his research was indefatigable. In this respect, he left nothing 
to be desired. A\'hile his historical judgment was licttcr than his literary taste, his appreciation 
of form was radically (k'fective. Indeed he seemed almost devoid of any true sense of proportion. 
Tlie result is that he has left behind him a succession of monographs, of more or less histor- 
ical value or literary interest, but no (•om])lete, thorougldy designed and carefully pro])or- 
tioneil historical unit. Like all tlir others, his work lacks foi'ni and finish. 

The historii'al writers of more than an huntlred years have thus l:)een passed in hasty 
review, nor has any nineteenth century comi)eer of Thucydides, Tacitus, and Gibbon been found 
among those who have expressed themselves in tlie English tongue. Nor do I think that any 
such could be found in otlier tongues; unless, itercliauce, among the (iermans, Theodor 
Mommsen might challenge consideration. Of Mommsen's learning tliere can be no question. 
I do not think there can be much of his insight and judgment. Tlie sole question would l)e as 
to his literary form; nor, in that respect, judging by the recollection of thirty years, do ] think 
tliat, so far as his histdiy of Rome is concerned, judgment can be lightly i>assed against him. 
But, on this iioint, the verdict of time only is final. Before that verdict is in his case rendered, 
another half century of jjrobatinn must elajise.' 

' " C'est sou.s ces deux aspects — (|ui sent cii vi'iilitc les deu.x faces dc I'espvit de Moninisen, le savant et 
le politique — qu'il convient d'etudici' ccl, <iu\'iau'c. 

"Dans I'expose scientifique de I' lltstairf ntimiinr on ne sait ee qu'on doit le plus admirer, ou de la 
science colossale de I'aiiteur ou de I'art avec laquelle elle est mise en ceuvre. 

" C'etait une entrepiise colossale que eelle de resumer tons les travaux sur la matiei'e depuis Niebuln-. 
Mommsen lui-meme avait contribue a ce travail par la quantite fabuleuse de memoires qu'il avait ecrits sur 
les points les plus speeiaux du droit romain, de Parclieologie ou de I'histoire. Or tout cela est assimile d'une 
maniere merveilleuse dans une narration historique qui est un des chefs-d'ceuvre de I'historiographie. 
L'histoire romaine est une oeuvre extraordinaire dans sa condensation, comme il n'en existe uulle autre an 
monde, enfermant dans des dimensions si restreintes (3 volumes in 8") tant de choses et de si bonnes 
choses. Mommsen raconte d'une maniere si attrayante que des les premieres lignes vous etes entraine. 
Ses grands tableaux sur les premieres migrations des peuples en Italie, sur les debuts de Eome, sur les 
Etrusques, sur la domination des Hellenes en Italie; ses ehapitres sur les iustitutjoiis, romaines, le droit, 
viii (57) 



WISCONSIN STATE IIISTORICAL LIBEARY BUILDING 

There is still something to be taken into consideration. I have as yet dealt only with the 
writers; the readers remain. During the century now ending, what changes have here come 
about ? For one, I frankly confess myself a strong advocate of what is sometimes rather con- 
temptuously referred to as the popularization of history. I have but a limited sympathy with 
those who, from the etherealized atmosphere of the cloister, whether monkish or colle- 
giate, seek truth's essence and puve learning onlj', regardless of utility, of sympathy, or of 
applause. The great historical writer, fully to accomplish his mission, must, I hold, be in 
very close touch with the generation he addresses. In other words, to do its most useful work, 
historical thought must be made to permeate what we are pleased to call the mass; it must be 
infiltrated through that great body of the community which, moving slowly and subject to all 
sorts of influences, in the end shapes national destinies. The true historian, — he who most 
sympathetically, as well as correctly, reads to the present the lessons to be derived from the 
experience of the past, — I hold to be the only latter-day prophet. That man has a message to 
deliver; but, to deliver it effectively, he must, like every successful preacher, understand his 
audience; and, to understand it, lie must either be instinctively in sympathy with it, or he 
must have made a studj' of it. Of those instinctively in sympathy, I do not speak. That con- 
stitutes genius, and genius is a law unto itself; l:)ut I do maintain that instructors in history 
and historical writers who ignore the prevailing literai-y and educational conditions, therein 
make a great mistake. He fails fatally who fails to conform to his environment; and this is 
no less true of the historian than of the novelist or politician. 

In other words, what have we to say of those who read? What do we know of them? Not 
much, I fancy. In spite of our public libraries, and in spite of the immensely increased diffu- 
sion of printed matter through the agency of those libraries and of the press, what those who 
compose the great mass of the community are reading, what enters into tlieir intellectual nutri- 
ment, and thence passes into the secretions of tlie body politic, — tliis, I imagine, is a subject 
chiefly of surmise. The field is one upon wliicli I do not now propose to enter. Too large, 
it is also a pathless wilderness. I would, however, earnestly commend it to some more com- 
petent treatment at an early convention of librarians or publishers. To-day we must confine 
ourselves to history. For what, in the way of history, is the demand? Who are at present 
the popular historical writers ? How can the lessons of the past be most readily and most 
effectually brought home to the mind and thoughts of the great reading public, vastly greater 
and more intelhgent now than ever before ? 

This is something upon which the census throws no light. Tliere is a widespread impres- 
sion among those more or less qualified to form an opinion, that the genei'al capacity for sus- 
tained reading and tlrinking has not inci'eased or been strengthened with the passage of the years. 
On the contrarj', the indications, it is currently supposed, are rather of emasculation. Every- 
thing must now be made easy and short. There is a constant demand felt, especially by our 
periodical press, for information on all sorts of subjects, — historical, iihilosopliical, scientific; 

la religion, I'aruiee et Tart; siir la vie economique, I'agriculture, I'industrie et le commerce; sur le devel- 
oppement interieiu' de la politique romaine; sur les Celte.s et sur Carthage; sur les peripeties de la Revo- 
lution romaine depuis les Gracques a Jules Cesar; sur TOrient gree, la Maeedoine; sur la soumission de 
la Gaule; tout eela forme un ensemble admirable. 

" Comme peintre de grands tableaux historiques, je ne Tois parmi les historiens contemporains qu'un 

- bomme qui puisse etre compare a Mommsen, c'est Ernest Renan: c'est la meme toucbe large, le menie sens 

des proportions, le meme art de faire voir et de faire comprendre, de rendre vivantes les ehoses par les 

details typiques qui se gravent pour toujours dans la memoire."— Guilland, L'Alleiiiagne Nourelle ct ses 

Historiens (1900) , pp. 121, 122. 

(58) 



DEDICATfON CEBUMONIES 

but it must be set fovtb iu wlial is l<:uo\vn as a poi)ulav style, tliat is introduced into tlie reader 
in a species of sugared capsule, and without leaving any annoying taste on the intellectual 
palate. The average reader, it is said, wants to know something concerning all the topics of 
the day; but, while it is highly desirable he should be gratified in tliis laudable, though languid, 
craving, he must not be fatigued in the effort of acquisition, and he will not submit to be bored. 
It is then further argued that this was not the case formerly; that in what are commonly al- 
luded to as "the good old times," — always the times of the grandparents, — people had fewer 
books, and fewer people read; but those who did read, deterred neither by number of pages nor 
by dryness of treatment, were equal to the feat of reading. To-day, on the contrary, almost no 
one lises to moi'e than a magazine article; a volume appals. 

This is an extremely interesting subject of inquiry, were the real facts only attainable. 
Unfortunately they are not. We are forced to deal with impressions; and impressions, always 
vague, are usually deceptive. At the same time, when glimpses of a more or less remote past 
do now and again reacli us, they seem to indicate mental conditions calculated to excite our 
special woiider. ^\'e <1() know, for instance, that in the olden days, — before public libraries 
and periodicals, and the modern cheap press, and the Sunday newspaper were devised, — when 
books were rarefies, and reading a somewhat rare accomplishment, — the Bible, Shakespeare, 
Paradise Lost, the Pilgrim's Progress, and Robinson Crusoe, the Spectator and Tatler, Bar- 
rows' Sermons, and Hume's History of England were the standard household and family litera- 
ture; and the Bible was read and re-read until its slightest allusions passed into familiar speech. 
Indeed, the Bible, in King .James' version, may be said to have been for the great mass of the 
community, — those who now have recourse to the Sunday paper, — the sum and substance of 
English literature. In this respect it is fairly open to question whether the course of evolution 
has tended altogether toward improvement. Now and again, however, we get one of these 
retrospective glimpses wliicli is simply bewildering; and, while indulging in it, one cannot help 
pondering over the mental conditions which once apparently prevailed. A question suggests 
itself, were there giants in those days ? — or did the reader ask for bread, and did they give 
him a stone? We know, for instance, what the public library and circulating library of to-day 
are. "\\'e know to a certain extent, what the reading demand is, and who the popular authors 
are. We know that, while history must content itself with a poor one in twenty, the call for 
works of fiction is more than a third of the whole, while nearly eighty per cent of the ordi- 
nary circulation is made up of novels, story books for cliildreii, and periodicals. It is tlie light- 
est form of pabulum. This in 1900. Now, let us get a glimpse of " the good old times." 

In the year 1790, a humorous rascal named Burroughs — once widely known as " the notori- 
ous Stephen Burrouglis "— found hi nisclf stranded in a town on Long Island, New York, a refu- 
gee from a IVIassachusetts gaol and whipping post, the penalties incurred in or at both of which 
he had richly merited. In the place of liis refuge, Burrouglis served as the village schoolmaster; 
and, being of an observant turn of mind, he did not fail presently to note that the people of the 
place were "very illiterate," and almost entirely destitute of books of any kind, "except school- 
books and bibles." Finding among the younger people of the community many "possessing 
bright abilities and a strong tliirst for information," Burroughs asserts that he bestirred him- 
self to secure the funds necessary to found the nucleus of a public library. Having in a meas- 
ure succeeded, a meeting of " the proprietors " was called " for tlie purpose of selecting a cata- 
logue of books;" and presently the different members presented lists "peculiar to their own 
tastes." Prior to this meeting it had been alleged that the people generally anticipated that the 
books would be selected by the clergyman of the cliurch, and would " consist of books of 

(59) 



WISCONSIN' STATE TIISTOIUCAL LIBliAMY BUILDING 

divinity, and dry metapliysieal writings; wliereas, sliould they be assured tlia.t histories and 
books of information would be procured," they would have felt very differently. And now, when 
the lists were submitted, " Deacon Hodges brought forward ' Essays on the Divine Authority 
for Infant Baptism,' 'Terms of Church Communion,' 'The Careful Watchman,' 'Age of Grace,' 
etc.; Deacon Cook's collection was ' History of Martyrs,' ' Rights of Conscience,' ' Modern 
Pharisees,' ' Defense of Separates;' Mr. Woolwortli exhibited ' Edwards against Chauncy,' ' His- 
tory of Eedemption,' '.Jennings's "\^iews,' etc.; .Judge Hurll)ut concurred in the same; Dr. Rose 
exhibited 'Gay's Fables,' 'Pleasing Companion,' 'Turkisli 8py,' while I," wrote I^urrouglis, 
"for tlie third time recommended 'Hume's History,' 'Voltaire's Ilistories,' 'Rollin's Ancient 
History,' 'Plutarch's Lives,' etc." 

It would be difficult to mark more strikingly the development of a century, than by thus 
presenting Hume's History and Rollin as typical of what was deemed light and jiniiular read- 
ing at one end of it, and the Sunday newspaper at the other. As I have already intimated, 
they were either giants in those days, or husks supplied milk for lialtes. Recarrin ;, however, 
to ])re.sent conditions, tlie jxipular demand for historical htcrature is undoubtedly vastly larger 
tiian it was a century ago; nor is it l>y any means so clear as is usuallj' assumed that the solid 
reading and thinking power of the community lias at all deteriorated. Tliat yet remains to be 
proved. A century ago, it is to be borne in nnnd, there were no pu]>lic libraries at all, and the 
private collections of l)ooks were comparatively few and small. It is safe, prol)ably, to assume 
that tliere are a hundred, or even a thousand, readers now to one then. On tliis iiead nothing 
even approximating to what would be deemed conclusive evidence is attainable; but tlie fair 
assumption is tliat, while the light and ephemeral, knowledge-made-easj' reading is a develop- 
ment of these latter years, it has in no way displaced the more sustained reading and severe 
thought of the earlier time. On the contrary, that also has had its share of increase. Take 
Giblion, for instance. A few years ago, an acute and popular English critic, in speaking of the 
newly published "^Memoirs" of Gibbon, used this language: — "All readers of the 'Decline and 
Fall,' — tliat is to say, all men and women of a sound education." etc. If Mr. Frederic Harrison 
was correct in his generalization in ISrX), certainly more i-ould not have been said in 1798; and, 
during tlie intervening hundred years, tlie class of tliosc who have received " a sound educa- 
tion ''lias undergone a prodigious increase. Take Harvard College, f(jr instance; in 1795 it 
graduated thirty-three students, and in ISnti it graduated four hnndii'd and eight, — an increase 
of more than twelvefold. In 179(1, also, there were not a tenth i)ai't of the institutions of ad- 
vanced education in the country which now exist. Tlic statistics of tin' iiulilishing houses and 
the shelves of the bookselling establishments all point to the same conclusion. Of t'ourse, it 
does not follow that because a l)ook is bouglit it is also read; ])ut it is not unsafe to say that 
twenty copies of Giblion's "Decline and Fall" are called for in the bookstores of to-day to one 
that was called for in 1800. 

On this subject, 'however, very instructive light may be derived from another quarter. I 
refer to the public library. ^\d)ile discussing the question eighteen months ago, I ventured 
(o state that, "in the case of one puldic library in a considerable Massachusetts city, I had 
])een led to conclude, as the result of examination and somewhat careful inquiry, that the copy 
of the 'Decline and Fall' on its shelves, had, in over thirty years, not once been consecutively 
read through by a single individual." I have since made further and more careful inquiry on 
this point from other, and larger, though similar institutions, and the inference I then drew 
has been confirmed and generalized. I have also sought information as to the demand for his- 
torical literature, and the tendency and character of the reading, so far as it could be ascertained 

(60) 



BE Die A TION CEBEMONIES 

ov aiiiirnximatcly int'orved. I luive sulnnittol my list of liisiovit'al writers, and iiKiuired as tn 
the eall lor tlicin. Sugsestive in all respeets, the results have, in some, been little less than 
startlino-. Take for instanee pojiularity, and let me recur to Maeaulay and Carlyle. I have 
sjioken of tlie two as great masters in historical composition,— comparing them in their i'lvM 
to Turner and Millet in the field of art. Like Turner and Millet, they influenced to a, marked 
extent a whole generation of workers that ensued. To sucli an extent did they influence it 
that a scholastic reaction against them set in,— a reaction as distinct as it w^as strong. Never- 
(ludcss, in synte of that reaction, to what extent did the master retain his popular hold? I ad- 
mit tliat my astonishment was great when I learned that between 1880, more that twenty years 
after his death, and 1900, licsides innumeral)le editions issued on botli sides of the Atlantic, 
the autliorized London publishers of Maeaulay had sold in two sliai)es only,— and they appear 
in many other shapes,— 80,000 copies of his History and 90,000 of his Miscellanies. Of Car- 
lyle and the call for his writings I could gather no such specific particulars; l;)ut, in reply to 
my in(|uirics, I was generally advised tliat, while the English demand had been large, there 
was no consideralile American publishing house which had not brought out partial or comi)lete 
editions of his works. They also were referred to as "innumerable." ' In other words, when 
a geniTation tliat knew them not had passed aw'ay, the works of the two great masters of his- 
torical literary form in our day sold beyond all comi>are witli the productions of any of the 
living writers most in vogue; and tliis wliile the professorial di'y-as-dust reaction against those 
masters w'as in fullest swing. 

With a vast amount of material unused,^ and much still unsaid, I propose, in concluding, 
to trespass still further on your patience while I draw a lesson to wliich the first portion of my 
discourse will contribute not less tlian the second. A great, as well as a very voluminous, re- 
cent historical writer has coined the apothegm,— "History is past politics, and politics are 
present History." The proposition tempts discussion. As space and time do not, however, 
permit of it now and here, I reserve it for some future occasion. Now, I have only to suggest 
that, however it may have been heretofore, wdiat is known as puiitics will be but a [lart, and by 
no means the most important part, of the history of the future. The historian will lonk deei)ei-. 
It was President Lincoln wdio said in one of the few immortal utterances of the century, — an 
utterance, be it also observed, limited to two hundred and fifty words,— that this, our, nation 
was "conceived in liberty, and dedicate<l to the proposition that all men are created eipial;" 
and tliat it was for us highly to resolve "that government of the i)eople, by the people, for the 
people, should not perish from the earth." It was James Russell Lowell, who, when asked in 
Paris by the historian Guizot many years since, how long the republic of the United States 
miglit reasonably be expected to endure, happily replied,—' So long as the ideas of its founders 
continue dominant.' In the first place, I hold it not unsafe to say that, looking into a 
future not now remote, the mission of the republic and the ideas of the founders will more 
especially rest in the hands of those agricultural communities of the Nortliwest, where great 
aggregations of a civic populace are few, and the principles of natural selection have had the 

' At least twenty (20) American ijublishiiig lioiises liave brought out complete editions of Maeaulay, 
both his 3Iisccllanies and the History of England. Many of these editions have been e.xpensive, and 
they seem uniformly to have met with a ready demand. Almost every American publishing house of any 
note has brought out editions of some of the Essays. The same is, to a less extent, true of Carlyle. Seven 
(7) houses have brought out complete editions of his works; while three (3) others have put on the market 
imported editions, bearing an American imprint. Separate editions of the more popular of his writings — 
some cheap, others de Z((.re — have been ))rought out by nearly every American publishing concern. 

■ See Appendix D. 

(61) 



DJ'jnfCA riON CKUEMONIKS 

fullest and the I'roesf jilay in llic iurmation of the race. Sncli is Wiseonsiji; sucli Iowa; such 
Minnesota. In tlieii' hamls, and in the liands of cdnmiunities like them, will rest the ark of 
our cdvenant. 

In the next place, for Die use and future behoof of those communities I hold that the 
careful and intelligent readini^' of the historical lessons of the past is all important. Witliout 
that reading, and a constant emphasis laid upon its lessons, the nature of that mission and 
those ideas to which Lincoln and Lowell alluded cannot be kept fresh in mind. This institu- 
tion I accordingly regard as the most precious of all Wisconsin's endowments of education. 
It should be the sheet-anchor l>y which, amid the storms and turbulence of a tempestuous 
future, the sliij) of state will be anchored to the firm liolding-groiind of tradition. It is to 
further this result that I to-day make appeal to the historian of the future. His, in this com- 
munity, is a great and important mission; a mission which he will not fulfill unless he to a 
large extent frees himself from the trammels of the past, and rises to an equality with the 
occasion. Lie must be a prophet and a poet, as well as an investigator and an annalist. Lie 
must cut loose from many of the models and most of the i)recedents of the immediate past, 
and the educational precepts now so commonlj' in vogue. He must perplex the modern col- 
lege professor by asserting that soundness is not always and of necessity dull, and that even 
intellectual sobriety may be carried to an excess. Not only is it possible for a writer to com- 
bine learning and accuracy with vivacity, but to be read and to be popular should not in the 
eyes of the judicious be a species of stigma. Historical research may, on the other hand, 
result in a mere lumber of learning; and, even in the portrayal of the sequence of events, it 
is to a man's credit that he sliould strive to see tilings from the ])oint of view of an artist, 
rather than, looking with tlie ilull ej^e of a mechanic, seek to measui'c tlieni with tlic meclianic's 
twelve-inch rule. I confess myself weary of those reactionary inlluenres amid which of 
late we have lived. I distinctly look back with regret to that more spiritual and more confi- 
dent time when we of the generation now passing from tlie stage drew our inspiration from 
prophets, and not from lalioratories. So to-day I make bold to maintain that the greatest ben- 
efactor America could have — far more immediately influential than any possible president or 
senator or peripatetic political practitioner, as well as infinitely more so in a remote future — 
would be some historical writer, occupying perhaps a chair here at Madison, who would in 
speech and book explain and expound, as they could be explained and expounded, the lessons 
of American liistory and the fundamental principles of American historical faith. 

It was Macaulay wlio made his boast that, disregarding tlie traditions whicli constituted 
what he contemptuously termed " the <lignity of liisloi-y," he would set forth England's story in 
so attractive a form that liis volumes should (lisjilace the last novel from the work-table of the 
London society girl. And lie did it. It is but tlie other day that an American naval officer 
suddenly appeared in the field of liistorical literature, and, by two volumes, sensilily modified 
the policy of nations. Here arc iircccjit and exam])le. To acconipiisli similar results should, 
I hold, be the ambition of the American historian. Popularity he should court as a necessary 
means to an end; and that he should attain popularity, he must study the art of presentation 
as much and as thoughtfully as he delves amid the original material of history. Becoming 
more of an artist, rhetorician, and philosopher than he now is, he must be less of a pedant and 
colorless investigator. In a word, going back to Moses, Thucydides, and Llerodotus; Tacitus, 
Gibbon, and Voltaire; Niebuhr, Macaulay, Carlyle, Buckle, Green, Mommsen, and Froude, he 
must study their systems, and, avoiding the mistakes into which they fell, thoughtfully accom- 
modating himself to the conditions of the present, he must prepare to fulfill the mission before 

(63) 



iriSCONSIN STATE HISTORICAL LIBBAliY BUILDING 

him. He will then in time devise what is so greatly needed for our politieal life, the distinct- 
ively American historical method of the future. Of this we liave as yet had hardly the 
promise, and tliat only recentlj' through the jiages of Fiske and Mahan; and I cannot help 
surmising that it is to some Eastern seed planted here in the freer environment of the more 
fruitful West tliat we must look for its ultimate realization. 




.\ WINTER SCENE 
Looking north, along east terrace. The columns are surmounted by electric lanterns. 



(64) 



DKDICA HON CEIiEMONIES 



APPENDIX. 



A. 

Tlie fact that the siiuthevii portion of the state of Wis<-onsiii was formerly, in a certain sense at least, a 
portion of IM.-issnchusetts, is, e\-eii historically, more curious than interesting- or valuable. In regard tn it 
the followiuu' exiracts are IVoin a Report of its Council mad'' to Ihe American Antiquarian Society at Wor- 
cester, October -1, t.S!)U,' by iSanuiel A. Green, than whom, on a matter of this sort connected with Massa- 
chusetts history, there is no higher living authority: 

"The Colonial Charter of Massachusetts Bay, granted liy Charles I, under date of Marcdi 4, lOli.S-L'll, 
gave to the Groveruor and (.Ihi-r representatives of the [Massachnsetts ('ompan>-, on certain conditions, all 
the territory lying between an eastei'ly and westerly lim- running three miles north of any part of the Mer- 
rimack River, and extcuiling from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacili<-, and a simil,-ir parallel line lunning south 
of any part of the Charles River." 

The exact words of the origiiud instrument, bearing on the matter under discussion, were: — 

■ ■ All that parte of Newe England in America which lyes and extendes betweene a great river there com- 
onlie called Mouoma(d< river. ali;is ^lerrimaek river, and a certain other river there called Charles river, be- 
ing in the bottome of a ccrtcn liay there conionlie called Massachusetts, alias Mattachusetts, alias Massatu- 
setts bay: . . . And also all those lands and hereditaments whatsoever which lye and be within the 
space of three English myles to the northward of the saids river called Monomatdi, alias Merrymack, or to the 
norward of any and every parte thereof, and all landes and hereditaments whatsoever, lying within the 
lymitts aforesaide, nurlli an 1 south, in bititn 1 ■ and bredth, and in length a,n<l hmgitude, of and within all 
the bredth aforesaid, throut;hnnt the mayiu' landes there from the Atlantick and westerne sea and ocean ou 
the east parte, to the south sea on the we-;t parte:" 

" Without attempting to trace in detail, from the time of the Cabots to tin- days of the Charter, the con- 
tinuity of the English title to this transcontinental .strip of territory, it is enon<;ii to knowthatthe precedents 
and usages of that perioil g.ive to Oreat Britain in theory at least, undisputed sway over the region, and 
forged every link in the chain of authority and sovereignty." 

"At that tinu- it was snp]iosed tlrit Auiei'ica was a ir.irrow stri|i of land, jierliaiis an arm of the conti- 
lU-nt of Asia.— and that the dislanc-e .across from oceiin to ocean was coiniiaralively slicn't. It was then 
known that the Isthunwof Darien was narrow, and it was therefore inc<iriectly presumed that the whole con- 
tinent also was nairow." 

" By later explorations this strip of tei-ritory has l.ieen lengthened out into a belt three thousand miles 
long. It crosses a continent, .-nid includes within its limits various large tnwns of the United States. The 
cities of Albany, Syracuse, Rochester. IJuffalo, Detroit, and Milwaukee all lie whhin the /.one. There have 
been many social and comniei-cial ties between thecapital of New England and llieM' several nuinicipalities, 
but in comparison with another bond they are of recent date, as the ground on which they stand was 
granted to the Massachusetts ('(juipany by the charter of Charles I, nioi'c than two hundred and sixty years 
ago." 

" After the lapse of some years the settlers took steps to find out the territorial boundaries of the Colony 
on the north in order to establish the limits of then- jurisdictional authority. To this end at an early day a 
Counnission was appointed by the General Court, composed of Captain Simon Willard and Caijtaiu Edward 
Johnson, two of the foremost men in the (.'olony at that time." 

" It will be seen that the Commissioners were empowered, under the order, to engage ' such Artists & 

1 Pi oci'fdiitg-s {New .SeriesI, vol. vii, pp. ll-3i. 

ix (65) 



WISCONSIN STATE IIISTOBICAL LIBBAEY BUILDING 

other Assistants ' as were needed for the purpose. In early days a surveyor was called an artist, and in old 
records the word is often found with that meaning. Under the authority thus given, the Commissioners em- 
ployed Sergeant John Sherman, of WatertoAvn, and Jonathan Inee, of Cambridge, to join the party and do 
the scientific work of the expedition." 

" In October, 1652, the Commissioners made a return to the General Court, giving the result of their 
labors, and including the aflfidavits of the two surveyors. According to this I'eport they fixed upon a place 
then called by the Indians Aquedahtan as the head of the Merrimack river. By due observation they found 
the latitude of this spot to be 43'^ 40' 12" : and the northern limit of the patent was three miles north of this 
point." 

An extension of the northei'n limit thus indicated would, crossing Lake Jlichigan, run west, from a point 
about three miles south of Sheboygan, through Fond du Lac, Green Lake and ^Marquette counties, some 
six miles north of their southern boundaries, thus bisecting Wisconsin. 

B. 

The full record of J. Q. Adams's utterances on this most impoi-taut sul).iect has never been made up. 
Historically spealcing, it is of exceptional significance; and accordingly, for convenience of reference, a 
Ijartial record is here presented. 

In 1S3(), Mr. Adams represented in congress what was then the Massachusetts " Plymouth " district. In 
April of that year the issue, which, just twenty-five j'ears later, was to result in overt civil war, was fast 
assuming shape: for on the 21st of the month, the battle of San Jacinto was fought, resulting immediately 
in the independence of Texas, and, more remotely, in its annexation to the United States and the consequent 
war of spoliation (184G-4S) with ^Mexico. At the same time petitions in great number were pouring into con- 
gress from the Northern states asking for the abolition of slavery, and the prohibition of the domestic 
slave trade iu the District of Columbia. The admission into the Union of Arkansas, with a constitution recog- 
nizing slavery, was also luider consideration. In the coin-se of a long personal letter dated April 4, 1836, 
Avritten to the Hon. Solomon Lincoln, of Hingham, a prominent constituent of his, Mr. Adams made the 
following incidental reference to the whole subject, indicative of the degree to which the question of mar- 
tial law as a possible factor in the solution of the problem then occupied his mind: — 

" Tlie new pretensions of the slave representation in congress, of a right to refuse to receive petitions, 
and that congress have no constitutional power to abolish slavery or the slave trade in the District of Colum- 
bia forced upon me so much of the discussion as I did take upon me, but in which j'ou are well aware I 
did not and could not speak a tenth part of my mind. I did not, for example, start the question ^^•hetller by 
the law of God and of nature man can hold property, hereditary property in man — I did not stai't the ques- 
tion whether in the event of a servile insurrection and war, congress would not have complete, unlimited 
control over the whole subject of slavery even to the emanciijation of all the slaves in the state where such 
insurrection should break out, and for the suppression of which the freemen of Plymouth and Norfolk coun- 
ties, Massachusetts, should be called by acts of congress to pour out their treasui'es and to shed theii' blood. 
Had I spoken my mind on those two points the sturdiest of the abolitionists would have disavowed the sen- 
timents of their champion." 

A little more than seven weeks after thus writing, Mr. Adams made the following entries in his diary: — 

i)/<(// Jotli. — ■■ At the house, the motion of Robertson, to recommit Pinckney's slavery report, with in- 
structions to report a resolution declaring that congress has no constitutional authority to abolish slavery in 
the District of Columbia, as an amendment to the motion for printing an extra number of the report, was 
first considered. Robertson finished his speech which was vehement. . . . 

" Immediately after the conclusion of Robertson's speech I addressed the Speaker, but he gave the 
floor to Owens, of Georgia, one of the signing members of the committee, who moved the previous question, 
and refused to withdraw it. It was seconded and carried, by yeas and nays. . . . 

" The hour of one came, and the order of the day was called — a joint resolution from the senate, au.- 
thorizing the President to cause rations to be fm'nished to suffering fugitives from Indian hostilities in Ala- 
bama and Georgia. Committee of the whole on the Union, and a debate of five hours, in which I made a 
speech of about an hom-, wherein I opened the whole subject of the Jlexican, Indian, negro, and English 
war." 

(66) 



imniCA TION CEREMONIES 

\t was in tlu' (■(lursc cif tliis s]iccch that Mv. Adams tivst enunciated tlie pi'ineiple of emancipation 
throus-li martial law, in tuive un<lcv the constitution in time of war. He did so in the following passage: — 
" Mr. Chairman, are you ready I'or all these wars '? A Mexican war ? A war with Great Britain if not 
with France? A general Indian war ? A servile war? And, as an inc\italile consequence of them all, a 
civil war ? For it must ultimately terminate in a war of coloi's as well as of races. And do you imagine 
that, while with your eyes open you are wilfully kindling, and then closing your eyes and blindly rushing 
into them; do you imagine that AA'hile in the very nature of things, your own Southern and Southwestern 
states must be the Flanders of these complicated wars, the battlefield on which the last great battle must 
be fought between slavery and emancipation; do you imagine that your congress will have no constitu- 
tional authority to interfere with the institution of slavery in any ivay in the states of this Confederacy °? Sir, 
they must and will interfere with it — perhaps to sustain it by war; perhaps to abolish it by treaties of 
peace; and they will not only possess the constitutional power so to interfere, but they will be bound in duty 
to do it by the express provisions of the constitution itself. From the instant that your slave holding states 
become the theatre of war, civil, servile, or foreign, from that instant the war powers of congress extend to 
interference with the institution of slavery in every way in which it can be interfered with, from a claim of 
indemnity for slaves taken or destroyed, to the cession of the state ).)ur<U'iied -with slavery to a foreign 
power." 

The following references to this speech are then found in the diary: — 

31(11/ 29th.— " I was occupied all the leisure of the day and evening in writing out for publication my 
speech made last Wednesday in the house of representatives — one of the most hazardous that I ever made, 
and the reception of which, even by the people of my own district and state, is altogether uncertain." 

June 2d.— " My speech on the distribution of rations to the fugitives from Indian hostilities in Alabama 
and Georgia was published in the National Intelligencer of this morning, and a subscription paper was cir- 
culated in the house for printing it in a pamphlet, for which Gales told me there were twenty-five hundred 
copies ordered. Several members of the house of both parties spoke of it to me, some with strong dissent. " 
/?M!e iSf/i.— " My speech on the rations comes back with echoes of thundering vituperation from the 
South and West, and with one universal shout of applause from the North and East. This is a cause upon 
which I am entering at the last stage of life, and with the certainty that I cannot advance in it far; my 
career must close, leaving the cause at the threshold. To open the way for others is all that I can do. The 
cause is good and great." 

So far as the record goes, the doctrine was not again propounded by Mr. Adams until 1841. On the 7th 
of June of that year he made a speech in the house of representatives in support of a motion for the re- 
peal of the twenty-first rule of the house, commonly known as " the Atherton Gag." Of this speech, no 
report exists, but in the course of it he again enunciated the martial law theory of emancipation. The 
next day he was followed in debate by C. J. Ingersoll, of Pennsylvania, Chairman of the Committee on 
Foreign Affairs, who took occasion to declai'e that what he had heard the day previous had made his " blood 
curdle with horror : " — 

" Mr. Adams here rose in explanation, and said he did not say that in the event of a servile war of in- 
siu-rection of slaves, the constitution of the United States would be at an end. What he did say was this, 
that in the event of a servile war or insurrection of slaves, if the people of the free states were called upon 
to suppress the insurrection, and to spend their blood and treasure in putting an end to the war — a war in 
which the distinguished Virginian, the author of the Declaration of Independence, had said that ' God has 
no attribute in favor of the master'— then he would not say that congress might not interfere with the in- 
stitution of slavery in the states, aiul that, through the iveof//-)»'/Zn)(/ ^)y«'<T, imiversal emancipation might 
not be the result." 

The following year the contention was again discussed in the course of the memorable debate on the 
" Haverhill Petition." Mr. Adams was then bitterly assailed by Henry A. Wise, of Virginia, and Thomas 
F. Marshall, of Kentucky. Mr. Adams at the time did not reply to them on this head; Irat, on the 14th of 
the following April, occasion offered, and he then once more laid down the law on the subject, as he under- 
stood it, and as it was subsequently put in force : — 

" I would leave that institution to the exclusive consideration and management of the states more pecul- 
iarly interested in it, just as long as they can keep within their own bounds. So far I admit that congress 
has no power to meddle with it. As long as they do not step out of their own bounds, and do not put the 
question to the people of the United States, whose peace, welfare and happiness are all at stake, so long I 

(67) 




\n 



T 11 



„..;--f^i 





THE EAST LOGGIA 
Looking novth, towards opening from Periodical Room. 



BEDWA TION CEEEMONfES 

will auTcc to Icnvc tlicni lo tliriusclvcs. lint when a iiicniln'r IVciiii a Free stale ))i'inj^-s I'orward ccvt.'iiii res- 
oliilioiis. for wliicli. inslc-id ol' I'casoniiiii' t.o (lisi]ro\-c his posilioiis, you \-<itr a i-c.iisnrr upon liiui, .-nid ljin,t 
uitlioul iicarinu-. i( is (|uilc aiiollicr aii'aiv. At tlu> (ime this was done \ said that, as far as 1 could uiuli'V- 
staii.l till' ifsoliitioHs )iro|ioscd liy t he gentleman from Ohio (Mr. ( iiddings), there were some of tlii'in for 
which I was rrady to vote, and some which I must vote a-g'aiust; and 1 will now t,ell this house, my con- 
stituents, and llu' world of mankind, that the resolution against which 1 slionid have voted was that iu 
which lie declares that wlint are called the slave states have the exclusive right of consultation on the sub- 
ject of slavery. For that resolution 1 never would vote, because I believe that it is not .iust, and does not 
contain constitutional doctrine. 1 believe that so long as the slave states are able to sustain their institu- 
tions without going abroad or caUing upon other parts of the Union to aid them or act on the subject, so 
long. I will consent never to interfere. 

"1 have s.aid this, and 1 repent it: but if they come to the free states ;ind say to them you nuist help 
us to keep down our slaves, you nnist aid ns in an insurrection an<l a civil war, tlieii 1 say tliat with that 
call comes a full and plenary pow<u- to this house and to the senate over the whole subject. It is a war 
power. 1 say it: is a war powei', and when yoiu' country is actually in war, whether it l)e a war of invasion 
or a war of insurrection, congress has poAver to carry on the war, and must carry it on according to the 
laws of war: and by the laws of war an invaded country has all its laws and muiii<-ipal institutions swept 
by the board, and martial law takes the place of them. This power in congress has, perhaps, never been 
called into e.xercise under the present constitution of the United States. But when the laws of war are in 
force, what, I a.sk, is one of those laws? It is this: that when a country is invaded, and two hostile armies 
are set in martial array, the commanders of both armies have power to emancipate all the slaves in 
the invaded territory. Nor is this a mere theoretic statement. The history of South America shows that 
the doctrine has been carried into practical execution within the last thirty years. Slavery was abolislied 
in Colombia, first, bj' the Spanish General ]\Iorillo, and, secondly, by the American General Bolivar. It 
was abolislied by virtue of a military coiuuiand gi\'eii at the head of the .-ii-iny, aiul its abolition continues 
to be law to this day. It was aliolished Ijy the laws of war and not by iiiiinicipal enactments; the power 
was exercised by military commanders, uuder instructions, of course, from their respective governuu'uts. 
And here I recur again to the example of General Jackson. What are you now aliout in congress ? Y(.)u 
are passing a grant to refund to General Jackson the amount of a certain ttne imposed upon him fjy a 
judge under the laws of the state of Louisiana. You are going to refund him the money, with interest; 
and this you are going to do because the imposition of the fine was unjust. And why was it unjust? Be- 
cause General Jackson was acting under the laws of way. and because the moment yon place a military 
commander in a district which is the theatre of war, the laws of war apply to that district. . . . 

"I might furnish a thousand proofs to show that the pretensions of gentlemen to the sanctity of their 
municipal institutions under a state of actual invasion and of actual war, whether servile, civil, or foreign, is 
wholly unfounded, and that the laws of war do, in all such cases, take the precedence. I lay this down as 
the law of nations. I say that the military authority takes for the time the place of all municipal institii- 
tions, and slavery among the rest: and that, under that state of things, so far from its being true that the 
states where slavery exists have the exclusive management of the subject, not only the President of the 
United States but the commander of the army has power to order the universal emancipation of the shn-es. 

"I have given here more in detail a principle which 1 have asserted on this floor before now, :ind of 
which I have no more doubt, than that you. Sir, occupy that chair. I give it in its development, in order 
that any gentleman from any part of the Union may, if he thinks proper, deny tlii' truth of the position, 
and may maintain his denial; not by indignation, not by passion and fury, but by sound and sober reason- 
ing from the laws of nations and the laws of war. And if my position can be answered and refuted, 
I shall receive the refutation with pleasure; I shall be glad to listen to reason, aside, as I say, from in- 
dignation and passion. And if, by the force of reasoning, my irnderstanding can be convinced, I here 
pledge myself to recant what I have asserted. 

"Let my position be answered; let me be tohl. let my constituents be told, the peoj)le of my state be 
told,— a state whose soil tolerates not the foot of ;i slaA-e, — that they are bound by the constitution to a 
long and toilsome march under burning summer suns and a deadly Southern clime foi' the suppression 
of a servile war; that they are bound to leave their bodies to rot upon the sands of the ("arolina, to leave 
their wives and their children orphans; that those who cannot march are Ixmud to pour out their trea.snres 
while their sons or brothers are pouring out their blood to suppress a ser\ile, c()nd)iued with a civil or a 

(09) 



WISCONSIN STATE HISTOIUCAL LIBSARY BUILDING 

foreign war, and yet that there exists no power beyond the limits of the slave state where snch war is rag- 
ing to emancipate the slaves. I say, let this be proved — I am open to conviction; but till that conviction 
comes I pnt it forth not as a dictate of feeling, but as a settled maxim of the laws of nations, that in such 
a case the military supersedes the civil power." 

The only comment on this utterance made by Mr. Adams in his diary was the following: — "My speech 
of this day stung the slaveooraey to madness." 

Mr. Adams does not seem to have referred to this subject again on the floor of the house of repre- 
sentatives, nor is any allusion to it found in his published utterances. His enunciation of the principle, 
however, was not forgotten. The Civil War broke out exactlj' nineteen years from the time (April, 1842) 
that Mr. Adams delivered in the house of representatives the speech from which the last of the fore- 
going exti'aets was taken. During the first year of the war, on the 30th of AugTist, 1861, Major General 
.John C. Fremont, then in command of the Military Department of the West, issued a proclamation in which, 
among other things, was the following — the slaves "of all persons in the state of Missouri, who shall 
take up arms against the United States . . . are hereby declared free men." This proclamation, after- 
wards revoked by President Lincoln, immediately attracted much notice, and was widely discussed. The 
New York TrihunCy in its issue of September 1, ISGI, contained an editorial entitled " John Quincy Adams on 
Slavery Emancipation as Affected by War," in which the principles laid down in the speech of 1842 were 
quoted and applied to the action of Greneral Fremont. The article was very generally reprinted, and the 
record further examined. Finally Charles Sumner made full use of the material thus collected in a speech 
delivered before the Republican state convention, at Woree.ster, Massachusetts, October 1, ISCIl. (Works, 
vol. vi, pp. 19-23; also vol. vii. p. 142.) Mr. Sumner then said — " No attempt to answer [Mr. Adams] was 
ever made. . . . Meanwhile his wciv<ls have stood as a towering landmark and beacon." 

C. 

• Owing to the hold which the Hebrew theology has obtained on all modern thought, the standards of 
judgment usually applied to historical characters have not been applied to Moses. He has been treated as 
exceptional. Meanwhile, judged by those standards, it may not unfairly be questioned whether Moses, after 
every allowance has been made on mythical and legendary grounds, was not the most many-sided human 
being of whom we have knowledge. The Pentateuch was unquestionably transmitted for centuries in an 
unwritten form through a consecrated order, or priesthood, much as the New Testament Gospels seem to 
have been at a later period. Seven or eight centuries of oral transmission may have elapsed in the one case, 
as, in the other, close upon two centuries certainly elapsed, before any of the Gospels assumed the shape 
they have since held, and now have. It was much the same with the poems of Homer; the traveling rhap- 
sodists there doing among the Greeks for three centuries what those of the sacred order did among the He- 
brews for twice that period. Nevertheless, the Pentateuch, like Homer and the body of Gospel doctrine, 
bears the distinct impress of one great creative mind, original and individual. The probabilities are that 
the emendations, insertions, and amplifications of later times have emasculated rather than improved the 
original conception. lu the ease of Moses, therefore, the conclusion is well-nigh irresistible that, in some 
remote and now largely fabulous past, a man did exist, who pnt his stamp with unparalleled distinctness 
on one ancient and semi-barbarous race, and, through it, on all modern and civilized races. This mythical 
character, moreover, looms up through the pages of the Old Testament with a vivid individuality possessed 
by almost no historical personage. He seems to have been equally great as a philosopher, a law-giver, a 
theologist, a poet, a soldier, an executive magistrate, and an historian. Compare him, for instance, with 
Julius Cajsar, also a many-sided man, whose influence on human events is perceptible even to the pres- 
ent time. A consummate military commander and political organizer, Csesar wrote his Commentaries. As 
a strategist he may have been superior to Moses; and yet it is very questionable whether he ever executed 
a more brilliant or successful movement than the march out of Egypt or the passage of the Ked Sea, as 
those operations have come down to us. Indeed, all the early campaigns of the Israelites seem to have 
been uniformly both planned and carried out in a masterly way. On the other hand, as a literary product, 
the De Bello Gallieo is in no way comparable to Exodus. As a philosopher, the authority of him who con- 
ceived, or at least reduced to form, the Book of Genesis was undisputed until well into the present century, 
and is even now implicitly accepted by the great mass of those calling themselves Christians. The bmding 
character of the decalogue is recognized, and it lies at the basis of modern legislation. As a poet. Homer 

(70) 



imi>I('A TION CEItEMONIES 

distinctly imlcs licfcivc t ho Israelite; wliilr l>ciili Dante and Millon drew from him their inspiration. For 
thrri' is no I'liic which in sublimity ol' ni.i\cnicnt as Avell as liiiiii.-in iiil,crest compares with the books of 
Moses. As a chii'f magistrate, the Hebrew moulded, or at least left his imprint, on a race which has proved 
the most m.-irked and persistent in type the earth has yet produced. Jesus Christ was of it. Finally, as an 
historian, while the learning and judgmiMit of Moses have not stood the test of modern criticism, his nar- 
rative was accepted as incoutrovcvtil)le until within the memory of those now living, and has passed into 
common speech. 

What otlicr man in all recorded history — mythical, legendary, or historically authentic — presents such 
a singular and varied record '.' 

D. 

In the addi'ess delivered at the opening of the Fenway Building of the Massachusetts Historical Soci- 
ety, in April, hSUU, occurred the following: — 

"It would be very interesting to know how many young persons now read Gibbon through as he was 
read by our fathers, or even by ourselves who grew up in 'the lifties.' Accurate information on such a 
point is not attainable ; but in the case of one imlilic library in a considerable Massachusetts city I have 
been led to conclude, as the result of examination and somewhat careful inquiry, that the copy of the 'De- 
cline and Fall ' on its shelves has, in over thirty years, not once been consecutively read through by a sin- 
gle individual. Tliat it is bought as one of those 'books no gentleman's library should be without,' I know, 
not only from personal acquaintance with many such, but because new editions from time to time appear, 
and the booksellers always have it 'in stock;' that it is dipped into here and there, and more or less, I do 
not doubt; but that it is now largely or systematically read by young people of the coming generation, I 
greatly question." 

This passage was at the time remarked upon, and subsequently led to a considerable correspondence. 
In the coiu'se of that correspondence, as occasion offered, I endeavored further to inform myself, through 
publishers, booksellers, librarians, instructors and students. To reach any really valuable resiilts such an 
inquiry would, of course, have to cover a broad field and be systematically conducted. This was out of my 
power. None the less the questions involved are of moment, and a thorough investigaticjn by a (.competent 
and unprejudiced person, with abundance of time at his disposal, could hardly fail to be suggestive, and, 
not improbably, might reveal some quite unexpected conditions, educational as well as popular. While the 
correspondence carried on by me was desultory, as well as limited, some of the points developed by it are 
more or less noteworthy and may incite others to a more systematic inquiry. I therefore give space to 
them. 

From publishing firms and Ijooksellers not much of value could )>e obtained. The former are, not un- 
naturally, more or less reticent on matters connected with their business; while the booksellers not only 
run into special lines, but their trade is subject to local conditions. With both, also, the question of copy- 
right has to be taken into consideration. So far as conclusions coidd be drawn from information derived 
from these sources, they would seem generally to be that the dein.and for books of an historical character 
has increased largely, and is still increasing. But while this is true of both the more expensive and the 
cheai)er editions, there is nothing indicative of a special or disproportionate increase in the ease of history 
as compared with other branches of literature. Among what may be called the standard English and 
American writer's, the demand is for the writings of Gibbon, Maeaulay, Carlyle, and (irecn; and for those 
of Preseott, Motley, and Fi.ske. In Boston it seems of late to be somewhat in the following proportions: 
Gi'een 150, Maeaulay 100, Carlyle and Gibbon 75, Preseott 50, Motley 30. Text-books and what maybe 
called ephemeral historical writings are not taken into consideration. Taking the English-speaking public 
in all parts of the world as a whole, Maeaulay and Carlyle would seem to be the two standard historical 
writers imcomparably most in vogue. Even in America there have been numerous editions of the works 
of both of these writers, while single editions of American works of a similar character have sufficed to 
meet the demand. For Gibbon alone of the older writers does there seem to be any active demand. One 
feature in the demand is noticeable. The readers of history seem largely to buy and own the copies they 
use. The public libraries will alone absorb full editions of any new work; but, of the standard writers, 
they as a ride buy the better and more expensive impressions, while the great mass of cheap reprints and 
second-hand copies is absorbed by a vast reading public, which formerly did not exist at all and of which 
little is now known. Its demand is, however, on the lines indicated. 

(71) 



The lad just irrrn-c. 


to, Iha 


1 wha 


t may lie Icniicd 


i-oiiliiiudiis liislciiic-il ic: 


(lii,-, 1 


i-clVr 


to own the cojii 


(Miiitri\T to (1(1 so cithci- 1 


ildli.uh 1 


he lia 


ri;aiii-stan(l or th 


rcrriiccs to ln' (Iv.-iwu I'k 


,11 111.. . 


tatist 


cs and cxiici'ic. 


iii(i(U>ni. and tlicii- iiillnci 


(■(■ has 1 


ot >( 


had 1 inif in whi 


halt' ceiituvy, tlu'y -.wv sti 


1 in the 


tonii; 


live, ov plastic, ^ 



DEDICA TION CKllKMOlS'IES 

the sustained readers ol' history, oi' those ciiual to 
es of the li(i(_iks they lead, and to a. larKe extent 
(• ( heaji reprint, has a very el(jse heaTiiig on the in- 
ice oj- the public libraries. These ageucies are all 
ich fully to assert itself. .\ de\-elopnient of the la.st 
st.-ite. As reg-ards them, .and theii- influence on the 
reading of historical works, further inquiry and con'osiKuidence li.ave led to a rexisal of lirst iinjiressions. 
As respects historical reading and study now goiug on, I eiavely d(ui)it whethei' any safe inferences can be 
drawn from this source. As a rule about live (o) per cent of the books called for at the desks of our pul)- 
lie libraries are classified as historical; but, on the other hand, further investigation leads me to infer that 
those who resort to the ]inblie libraries for books of this sort do so as a rule either educationally, that is, in 
connecti(ui with school studies, or they are ephemeral readers. This appears clearly on examination in a 
public library of almost any historical work in several volumes. The first will almost invariably bear marks 
of heavy handling, and will probably have been sent to the binder; the succeeding volumes will show fewer 
and fewer signs of use; while the closing volumes, except the index volume, will be quite fresh. People 
who read such W'orks through with profit or pleasrrre probably own them. Obseivation from the pvdjlie 
library point of view is, therefore, on this subject, apt to be deceptive. 

For instance, an official of one of the largest and most extensively used public libraries in the country 
writes me, speaking of Gibbon, "It is my opinion that a fair percentage of those who undertake Gibbon 
put the job through. You can draw .about any inference you please on the relative place Gibbon now 
holds,"' Another, almost equally well placed from the sanu? )ioint of ol)servati(m, has written to me, 
'■ There is no donlit that the fact [you oliserve] as to the condition of the several volumes of Gibbon on the 
shelves of the public library of Qiiiiu'y could lie vei'ifled by observation in this library, and, in all proba- 
bility, in most other pulilic liliraries in this country." My own inference now is that the people who read 
"The Decline and Fall,""— and they are many,— own it. The copies in the public libraries are used for 
experimental purposes, or for topical reference. 

On the general subject, I lind many suggestive paragraphs in my jiublic librarian correspondence. 
The following for instance: — 

" The fact of the matttu' is that vei y few iieojile now.adays have the tinu' and iiatience to I'ead a iirolix 
history through by course, or e\'en to wade thn.iugli the n(i\'els which were con.structed with so great elab- 
oration of exciting incident for the edification of our grandfathers. It is our experience that Gibbon and 
Hallam and Lingard and Hume and Bancroft aie never read entire. It may be .said that the attempt is 
seldom if ever made to do so. There is sometimes an effoit to master Macaulay, or Carlyle, or Motley, or 
Prescott; but it is evident that this is too often with flagging interest. The hi.storical writings of Francis 
Parkman and John Fiske are in grojit ]io]iul.ar demand. These aic so liroken uji into sejiarate topics that 
the task set before the reader does not ajipear tomiidable, and when he has read up on om> topic he is quite 
likely to be lured by the interesting narrative and the fascinating style into a continuance thidugh other 
works of the same author. Captain Mahan's books are much read, as are also Green's shorter history and 
McCarthy's 'History of our own Times,' and the recent histories of Schouler and Rhodes, 

" Though there is less reading by course of vokuuinous histories than formerly, the study of history was 
never more popular. The tendency of the times is toward condensation. We want our facts iu a nutshell; 
we cannot spend time over unimpoi'tant details; the historian is expected to separate the chaff from the grain. 
So we have numerous condensed histories and biographies, some of which are excellent, though some show 
too clearly the characteristic of having been made-to-order at the expense of the publisher. But the fact 
that the publishers find them pi'ofltable is good evidence tliat such books are the kind which many persons 
are buying, 

"Much of the historical reading with which we come into contact in this lilirary is by topic, under the 
guidance of clubs and instructors, and therefore sy.stematic," 

' ' I don't see how you can hope to induce the average person of moderate intelligence to do more than read 
the new'spapers and a few monthly magazines in these days. History does not come to him any longer through 
the volume; it comes to him through the morning paper, as it never did before. Historians are still a 
little too much inclined to write histories in the old style: even John Fiske does, it would seem. Whereas 
entirely new conditions of life and knowledge would seem to call for a new kind of history: wliat kind, I 
cannot tell you," 

x (73) 



WISCONSIN STATE IIISTOIUCAL LIBIiAIlY BUILDING 

'•1 a(ml>t if U-n undei-gTaduates at Vale liave read Gibbon duviuK' tlir past ttve yeais; iiuiny. however, 
have read Carlyle's ' Frederick,' and more his ' Freneh Revolution.' "" 

" I And niyself more and more astonished at the narrowing ranjre of reading'. It may be that I don't see 
the whole thing- or that I form wrong estimates, but I am in aeeord with the more observing of my asso- 
ciates when I tell you that the reading habits of the 'average' reader are not desultory — I wish they 
-^vere — but sharply defined and within most contracted limits. Let me specify in the matter of United States 
history. When I was a youngster we used to have large plans for reading Bancroft, or Hildreth, or the 
biographies of famous Americans. To-day it is noticeable that the generation recently graduated from the 
public schools seems to have imbibed no general taste for reading — and does not seek to expand its small 
acquirements beyond a given point. For several years, off and on, I have been the civil service examiner 
for this library, and I can assert that the only knowledge of American history, or worse, of American 
historical writings, is confined to the work of one Montgomery, of whom, I dare say, you never lieard. 
Very rarely a young reader knows of Fiske, more rarely of Higgiuson — once in a while of Barnes, a new 
name to you, I fancy. But of the important names, simply nothing. What is true in these examination 
papers, is true also of the people who come to read. They largely confine themselves to this sort of histor- 
ical reading." 

"In the past few years there has also Ijcoii a gradual restriction of tlie limits of literary tastes. Chil- 
dren, in our schools, and I suppose the tendency comes from the West, are fed on very limited pap. Long- 
fellow. Whittiei-, and a few others are the only names known to them — and there seems to be no 
encouragement of a general taste. So far as we then are able to discern, everything is 'patriotic'— patri- 
otic speeches, poems, history, one might hazard the statement that in the 'nature studies' so popular now— 
what we used to call 'natural history'— the bugs, beetles, butterflies, and flowers must be patriotic too. 
This all may seem exaggerated and fanciful, but I assure you that it is not to us. We trace it to a sort of 
spurious conception of specialization among teachers and especially among school committees. Whatever 
the cause, J submit to you that it is a depressing fact that children should grow up with a particular knowl- 
edge of Longfellow and Mr. Montgomery's history, and not the least acquaintance with the general 
works of literature and history, at least of America and England. This is one reason why Gibbon 
is not read more — noliody hears about hiiu to-day — or of Grote, or Mommsen,— though Macaulay still has 
his readers.'' 

The truth seems to lii' that, so far as the general pul)lic is concerned,— that largest portion (jf the body 
poUtic which is finally influenced liy that liody"s secretions.— no conclusions are reliable the inductions to 
which do not include the Sunday newsp.-ipcr and the periodical. These circulate by the million, and arc 
most carefully shaped to meet the demand of the day. They all give much space to historical topics, deal- 
ing with them in popular form. Formerly, neither the medium nor the method existed. Their finiclion and 
influence have never been adecjuately investigated. As a Uterature, besides creating a new field of enor- 
mous size, the periodical and the Sunday paper have, as leisure reading, largely superseded the Hible, ]'il- 
grim's Progress, Robinson Crusoe, and all literature of that class. 

Turning now to the educational institutions,— especially those of ihr more advanced grade,— and the 
student class, it would, I think, be found that a, great change has taki'u place in recent years. Not only 
have new methods been introduced, but a branch of education has l)een called into being. Forniei'iy,- 
that is prior to thirty years ago.— history was lauglit in our colleges merely as a subject concerning the 
authors and leading facts of which a so-i-alled educated man shiudil have some kmiwledge: it is now taught 
as, at once, a science and a philosophy. AjJiiroached in this way l.iy a newly created race of inshucfors, it 
naturally and almost necessarily runs into vagaries,— what may best be dcsci-ibed as educational "fads." 
The original research. topi<-al. period and reali.stic methods seem to lie tluisc now most in vogtie. As hiti- 
mated in the text, the artistic side is in disrepute, while little or no attention is paid to history as literature. 
Altogether it is suggestive of a revival on a more scientific basis of Carlyle's Dr. Dryasdust dispensation, 
and can hardly be considered inspiring. The following extracts frcmi letters 1 have received throw light 
on this subject: — 

" I have nowadays under my instruction only such seniors and graduates of and as elect my 

courses, perhaps sixty or seventy individuals each year. Among these I should suspect that perhaps one in 
ten might have read Carlyle's 'Revolution.' I .should be astonished to find that one in twenty had read 
even half of Macaulay or Gibbon, or oiu' in fifty Bancroft. As for ' Frederick the Great,' that would be as 
rarely perused as Augustine's ' City of Ciod.' One in five might kiuiw something of Parkman, Fiske, and 

(74) 



J>l':i)fCA rrON CKRKDfONrES 

M;ili;ii), (111 ri( mil of llicir gciici ;il iMi]iiilMrily, how ex cr, v.'illur tli.'in any stimulus (liic to colk'a-c wovk. 

(ivcmrs licHik (Mij.i.vs a .u'lrMtrv ix.iiul.-irily, 1 slicmld 1)Ivsiiiim', lli.-iii any (it the ollicrs. 

'■ I will veutuve to aiUl the following I'eHectious in extenuation of what yon appear to deem an indication 
of a reluctance on the part of the present geiiei'ation to apply themselves patiently to prolonged and se- 
rious lasks. It is undoubtedly triie that the methods of instruction in our more conspicuous institutions of 
Icarniiit;- militate against 'the habit of steady, or "course" historical reading,' but I should be very loath 
to add, as you do, 'and sustained thought,' among our students. There is indeed little encouragement to 
read long Avorks through, and certainly there is little tendency to extol any writer as a prophet. But it is 
not impossible that the causes of the discredit into which the older method has fallen may indicate after all 
increasing insight and discrimination. These causes appear to me to be, first, a growing tendency to a 
broader and more sympathetic method of dealing with the past. We are no longer chiefly interested in po- 
litical events, nor are the best writers of to-day guilty of the Tcridcnz so apparent in the partisan treatments 
of Gibbon, Hume, Prescott, Macaulay, and Motley. 

" The broader conception of history leads, secondly, to a topical treatment of the subject; students 
turn to special rather than general works of reference. An advanced student is taught to turn often to a 
monograph, or the most'recent edition of a technical encyclopedia, rather than to so-called ' standard' gen- 
ei'al treatments." 

"Personally, I feel that we shall be able sometime to combine the advantages both of form and read- 
ableness with the requirements of scientific truth and relevancy." 

" I should say that the studious habit of the men runs rather to topical than to course reading; and that, 
outside the range of their fixed studies, they take their pleasure from poetry and fiction rather than from 
the historians. 1 should say that .such general historical reading as I remember to have been the delight of 
my own undergraduate (1875-77) days is now less common than it used to be. 

"The tendency is decidedly towards 'other and more recent methods.' Macaulay and Carlyle are too 
much decried in the classroom. Even Green is looked upon askance as a bit too 'literary,' I suspect; and 
the men who would be scholars are sternly bidden to the methods of colorless investigators. Let us pray 
that we shall some clay come to a sane balance in these matters, and not start young historians copying false 
standards of either extreme." 

" I am nearly certain that the average undergradiuite who has anything to do with historical electives 
in the most important colleges now reads in a year more history than did the average undergraduate of a 
generation ago. But the methods of instruction now employed make it likely that he reads chapters or 
portions of books, reads with a view to getting various lights upon jjarticular transactions or episodes of 
history, rather than to read consecutively through works comprising several volumes each. 

" I am sure that the average undergraduate has not less patience or grit than the average undergradu- 
ate of my time. I think he works more; but he works in a different manner. 1 have taken counsel chiefly, 
in respect to your questions, of our assistant librarian, who remembers pretty well what books are taken 
out from the library. He knows no recent instance of a student having read through Gibbon's 'Decline 
and Fall.' Carlyle's ' Frederick the Great' has recently been attempted by one or two, but not completed. 
<'arlyle"s 'French Revolution' has been a good deal read. Of a consecutive reading of Bancroft he re- 
members no instance. Some have read through Motley's 'Dutch Biepublic' Probably no one has also 
gone through his ' History of the United Netherlands.' John Fiske's writings are much in demand. 

"I believe you would find very few college libraries in which the last volume of Gibbon showed signs 
of having been much used at any period, though Vol. I is often worn out. 

"It is not the first time that the question has arisen in my mind whether our students ought not to-day 
to be given the opportunity to do more reading that is not positively required. But I presume that I shall 
answer the question, as I have always answered it before, by concluding that it is a better plan to make 
sure VasXall the students do enough work and, toward that end, to fill up the time of all, even of those who, 
without re.straint, would read emnigh." 

" The habit of reading practised by university students in history to-day is that of topical comparison — 
or at least (if the student or the references be at fault) topical cumulation. Thus in the last decade a 
considerable number of pamphlets of references on American history have been published, doing on a 
small scale what the 'Guide' of Professors Channing and Hart does on a larger one. Judging from these 
guides, and my own experience and observation, I should say that this metlKxl of tnjiical analysis and ref- 
erences is llii: mcflidd used at [ircscnt not only in universities but in (•ollcgcs and larger high schools. A 

(75) 



DKtriCA TION CEliKMONIES 

g'euevation ago, doiibtless, a student was thrown upon the text-boolc, recitation system; but if lu/ were ani- 
bitioiw, then lie would obtain his comparative view of history by reading — indepench'iit, di' ic<|uin'cl — in 
the ("Inssie works. To-day the comparative study is made easy, and is more or less required; but it is ap- 
lilicd iiii'ccuii'al, ncit liroadly; to individual topics, narrow points. The student reads his authors ' in little ' 
on eacli phase ul: a niovemcjit. In this wa.y he rounds out each whole while details are fresh in mind- 
however he may lose in other respects. Now the fact is. that the topical rcaditit;- is so exacting that a stu- 
dent has little time for the more generous reading of his authors. In other words, so far as his university 
courses are coiu-cviumI, the cliapter and page system is vei'y largely forced upon a student. In view of 
such tendencies — which I have reason to believe are general and dominant — it would seem unlikely that 
the consecutive reading through of classics will again become more common. It could scarcely become less 
common." 

"The modern method of setting men to woik to answer problems, or draw conclusions from various 
writers in a report or essay, leads men to use a book for a purpose, and such part of it, therefore, as they 
want, rather than to sit down and read consecutively a single author until they have finished him. In addi- 
tion, doubtless, the hurry, the scattered interests in things athletic and public, in college contests and exhi- 
bitions, in social 'functions,' the general lack of repose and of steady application also contribute to explain 
the situation. These latter excesses are lamentable; but the modern method of historical study is in my 
opinion the right one, even were it not the only feasible one under modern conditions." 

'' My experience and observation goes to show that steady or course historical reading among the un- 
dei'graduates of the present day is avoided as far as possible. No more reading is done than is absolutely 
essential to satisfy the requirements of the instiuctor in the written weekly papers, and in the mid-year and 
final examinations. Furthermore, the amount of ri'quired reading which the students actually do is regu- 
lated by their ambitions to obtain high, medium, or low grades in their history courses. Of course there 
are exceptions in the students who do far more than the required reading simply because they are greatly 
interested in the subject-matter itself, but, in my opinion, the average student of to-day does no more than 
he really has to." 

"I should say students of to-day read widely in history, but not with very great steadiness: the great- 
est bursts are nearest the examination periods." 

Finally two others, one a recently graduated Harvard student, the other an undergraduate, to whom in 
my curiosity on the subject I was led to apply for information as to the reading tendencies among the 
younger generation so far as history from a literary point of view was concerned, kindly replied to my 
queries as follows: — 

"In general my answer to your questions is decidedly that theie is very little I'eading done by under- 
graduates in the older and more solid authors. The general tendency seems to be towards newer niid 

abridged works like M. Duruy's 'Middle Ages' and 'Modern Times.' What little reading is done in 1 ks 

like flihlion, (^arlyle, Hallam, etc., is done in little 'dabs:' there is no thought of a consecutive study of 
them. Especially is this true in the case of Giblion. 1 had almost said th:it the " Decline and FaJP is as 
little known here now, as in the days when its use was forbiddeu as 'luiorthodox." It was one of the liooks 
out of which the freshmen in history were advised to read a hundred pages, and though I told all my lioys 
that they ought at least to look into it and know who Gibbon was, the general tendency was to fight shy of 
so weighty a work, and rather to read in books like Professor Emerton's ' Introduction to the Middle Ages.' 
The ordinary undergraduate is too much scared by Macaulay's allusiveness to get very far with him. I thiiil; 
I am correct in .stating that I attended a course in which ten or fifteen lectures were devoted to the Ficiich 
Revolution, and Carlyle was not mentioned. Sorel and Von Siebel and Rose seem to have displaced him. 
Green is read a little more, I think. 

"Of course it is the exception rather than the rule for the ordinary undergraduate to read solid b(,)oks 
which are not recommended in his courses. I don't think there is any great difference between the pres- 
ent nndergi-aduate methods and those of the undergraduates of my day. ' ' 

" I think that most undergraduates do very little steady reading in history, the general tendency being 
to keep very near the minimum amount of prescribed reading in courses. Many men make sincere resolves 
to read more, and hcgin to read long works, but those who read from beginning to end are feAV indeed. A 
great deal of historical information is gained indirectly through indisci'iminate maga/ine reading, especially 
in regai'd to current events. I have found that most of my acquaintauces are usually familiar with so-and- 
so's article in this or that magazine, from month to month. 

(77) 



WISCONSIN STATE IIISTOKICAL LIBBARY BUILDING 

" I have myself read the whole of Gibbon several timeis from beginning to end, but I liave never known 
of another nndergTaduate who had ever read so mneh as one volnme throngh. (Jf eleven men to whom I 
addressed the qnestion this morning, none had read Gibbon throngh, three had never read a page of his 
writings, and eight had read ' a few chapters,' these chapters having been reqnired in a freshman coirrse 
(History 1). None had ever read him voluntarily. 

"1 like the style of Macaulay best, but it is more because of his English than because of his historical 
methods. Nine of the eleven men questioned also favored Macaulay, and for the same reason, I fancy. 
Most undergraduates learn to admire him in English A, and in answering your question the men did not 
seem to discriminate between his English style and his historical methods. None seemed to have any opin- 
ion as to the merits of the methods of the diiferent writers, not ever having given any thought to the cxues- 
tiou. 

"I have myself' read Hume, Gibbon, Macaulay, Eidpath, Fiske, Bancroft, Preseott, Irving, much biog- 
raphy and many memoirs, especially of American statesmen and of the Napoleonic era, because I like them; 
but I think very few men do this. Of the men questioned, eight had read Bryee's 'American Common- 
wealth,' which is required in one of Professor Mae Vane's government courses here. Two had read a part 
of McMaster's 'United States,' in connection with Professor Hart's History 13, and one man, inspired by 
work done in Professor MacA'^ane's History 12, had read May's 'Constitutional History of England' from 
beginning to end. Most men here have read Bryce. 

"In the sense implied in your question, no, or very few. undergraduates read the long works nowadays. 
Most of the men I questioned looked at me rather quizzically when I asked them this question, as much as 
to say, ' What do you take us for ? ' " 

The inference from all of which is obvious. In our institutions of advanced education, literary form as 
an element in good historical work, when not actually discountenanced, is now wholly ignored. The method 
in vogue is suggestive of that pursued by the critic of the Eatanswill Gazette, in his admired review of the 
woi'k on Chinese metaphysics. The student is expected to improve himself in literature in the English de- 
partment, and in history and the historical methods in the historical department; and, subsequently, com- 
bine his information. 




IN THK MUSEUSr 
Looking eastward, through the south gallery. 



(TS) 



MISCELLANEOUS 



A Description of the Building — The Editor 

A Brief History of the Wisconsin TIistorical Society— Tlic Eilitor 

The \Voi!K of the Society — The Editor 

The Library of the University of Wisconsin— irr/i'^cr McMynn Sinifli, Lihnii-ian 

The Library of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters — 
William Herbert Hobhs 

What Distinguished Librarians Think of the Building 



(79) 



A DESCRIPTION OF THE BUILDING 



BY REUBEN G. THWAITES. 



THE lU'w building of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, provided by the gen- 
erosity of tlie legislatures of 1895, 1897, and 1899, has been erected upon a rising plot 
of ground, consisting of eight city lots, lying to the west of what is known as the 
"lower campus " of the University of Wisconsin. This plot, which is 264 feet square, 
fronting on State, Langdon, and Park streets, was deeded to the state for the jiurpose, by the 
board of regents of the University. 

The statutes providing for the construction of the building permitted the Society to invite 
thereto such other state-supported libraries as it deemed proper. From the first, it was well 
understood by the Board of Building Commissioners that the library of the University was to 
be housed beneath the same roof. Ample provisions were therefore made for the latter, and 
to this fact the plans owe their somewhat peculiar arrangement. The attempt has been made, 
and we beheve successfully, to provide for two distinct lil)raries, separately administered, but 
using the reading and delivery rooms in connnon. By joint agreement, the Historical Society 
retains the general administration of tlie entire building — such as heating, lighting, cleaning, 
repairing, policing; and the special custody of all rooms to which the i>ublic are admitted; but 
the University controls the actual daily use of its own offices, seminary rooms, storage rooms, 
and the space assigned to it in the southwest book-stack wing. When the northwest liook- 
stack wing is constructed, the University library will be transferred thither. This wing will, 
as indicated upon the floor plans, be in direct connection with the administrative rooms of that 
library. 

The principal fagade is on the east, facing the lower campus and the city. The best and 
most familiar views of the structure are from the southeast, on State street, and the northeast, 
on Langdon street; but these do not include the book-stack wing, and thus fail to give an ade- 
quate conception of the great depth of the building from east to west. Although the principal 
entrance is on the east fajade, there are side entrances on State and Langdon streets, witli an 
attractive campus entrance in the rear on Park street, between the book-stack wings, for the 
convenience of persons approaching the building from "the hill." The situation is command- 
ing. As the ground slopes upward to the west (rear), a l)alconicd terrace is rendered neces- 
sary on the east, north, and south sides; the east terrace is ]iglite<l by electric lanterns 
surmounting two beautiful stone columns. The outlook from the general reading room is an 
interesting roof-view of the neighborhood, with pretty glimpses of Lake Mendota, dissected by 
the University gymnasium and neighljoring residences, From the roof, there is visible a wide 
sweep of land and water. 

xi (SI) 



WISCONSIN STATE HISTOBICAL LIBEABY BUILDING 









C \kvJ ^^ 



MARK OF WILLIAM CAXTON, 1489 
Caxton was one of the earliest English printers. As com- 
monly interpreted, the device reads. "W 74 C" — 
possibly the figures refer to 1474. the date of 
the introduction of printing into England. 



MARK OF RIVERSIDE PRESS 

Chosen as representing American printers. The design 

is by Elihu Vedder. modified by the architects 

for mosaic treatment. 





MARK OF THE ELZIVIRS, 1620 

The Elzivirs were Amsterdam printers. The motto, 

" Non Solus;" this, with the device, symbolizes 

the preference of the wise for solitude. 



MARK OF ALDUS MANUTUS, 1502 
The Aldines were at the head of the printers of Venice. 




riu^uTM^li^ 


"O 




1 


1 JnHn'gJy Jff'M' ^gW^tjrS 4 f'^fi 



MARK OF JEHAN FRELLON, 1540-50 
A Lyons printer of repute. 



MARK OF MELCHIOR LOTTER, 1491-1536 

A Leipzig printer. .As " Lotter" is an old German word 

for "vagabond," the mark represents a beggar 

in a suppliant attitude. 



PRINTERS' MARKS IN MOSAIC PAVEMENT, FIRST FLOOR. 



DKscnirrioN of tiik jsiulding 




GEORGR E. FERRY 
Of Ferry 6t Clas, architects. JNIilwaukee. 



Tlio liuilding, designed by Ferry tt (Mas, 

ai'cliiltvly, of Milwaukee, is constructed of HidT 

Bedford limestone, from Bedford, Ind. The 

architecture is of the Ionic order, in the renais- 
sance style. While the exterior of the structure 

is distinctly the work of the architects, the 

interior arrangement — as is proper, for this 

is a hbrarians' workshop — is in all essential 

particulars the plan of those who occupy it. 

Their wishes — based on experience, on the 

peculiar needs of the Historical and University 

Hbraries, and on wide observation and study 

of other great reference and university libraries 

in this country and abroad — have been faith- 
fully observed by the architects; and it is be- 

Heved that the building is as nearly perfect from 

a librarian's point of view, as possible under 

the circumstances. 

The basement is entered either by means of 

iriarble stairways leading down from the first, 

or main, floor, or by the freight-runway on 

State street. In room no. 2, beneath the book 

stacks, bicycles can be stored while their owners are within the building. The greater part of 

the basement is devoted to the storage of bound newspaper tiles, duplicate books and pam- 
phlets, Wisconsin state documents carried in bulk 
by the Society for exchange purposes, packing 
and unpack'ing rooms for both Society and Uni- 
versity lil)raries, janitors' repair shop, engines, 
fans, electric motors, etc. In the unpacking 
room (no. 4) , an electric freight elevator, capaljle 
of ctirrying attendants and trucks of books, 
ascends from the basement to all floors of the 
wing; there is also an electric book-lift, for books 
and small packages. Heat is olitained from the 
University central lieating pkint, a tumiel from 
which underlies the Langdon street (north) 
side. 

The average visitor will prefer to enter upon 
the first floor direct. Appi'oaching the main 
(east) portal, one ascends the terrace stairs, 
which are about six feet high, crosses the east 
terrtice, and enters through one of tlu'ce arches 
into an outer vestibule; the inner vestibule 
opens into the great corridor. Toilet and cloak 
rooms (nos. 111-115) flank ihe rear, or Park 
street, entrance; to the north of these, are 
(83) 




ALFRED C. CLAS 
Of F>rry S: Clas, arcliitects. Milwaukee. 



WISCONSIN STATE HtSTOBICAL LIBRAHY BUILDING 

marble stairs leading up to the offices of the University library, and the general reading room; 
to the south, a similar staircase ascends to the Society's offices and the reading room. An 
electric passenger elevator, running up to the museum on the fourth floor, is situated near the 
foot of the south stairs. 




Room, Description. 

1. Vestibule 

2. Bicycle room . 

3. Stock and storage room 

4. Stock and packing room 

5. Elevator machinery . 

6. Hall . 

7. Closet . 

8. Closet . 

9. Janitors' toilet — men . 

10. Closet . 

11. Boiler room 

12. Elevator machinery 





Dimensions.! 


. 1.5 X 20 1 




15x41 




31 X 


33 




30 1 


3:^ 




4 s 


11 




9 X 


32 




3 > 


4 




4s 


5 




7 > 


10 




4s 


9 




10 s 


11 




11 s 


32 



oon 


Description. 


13. 


Vault 


14. 


Newspapers files 


15. 


Heating apparatu 


16. 


Hall 


17. 


Closet 


18. 


Closet 


19. 


Closet 


20. 


Janitors' toilet — w 


21. 


Closet 


22. 


Closet 


Ele 


. Elevator 


E. 


Book lift 



im 


;n 


sions 


6 


X 


10 


50 


X 


76 


9 


X 


20 


3 


X 


4 


9 


X 


11 


4 


X 


5 


7 


X 


12 


4 


X 


12 


9 


X 


10 



Room 100, near tlie elevator, is devoted to public documents — government, state, and 
municipal reports from all parts of the Union and many foreign countries; these are shelved 
upon a double-storied steel stack. There are ample tables for the use of readers. 

Adjoining this departmental lil)rary to the south is the department of maps, manuscripts, 
and photographs (room 102). 

(84) 



DEscRirrroN of the isvildinu 

Tn room 105, east ol' (lie Stah-slivct vnU-Muv, aiv stcrcd upon a dduMc-sturicd stack tlie 
ourront newspapers, wliK-haiv revival l.y tlu" Society in lai-c nmnl.ers; in this nM,n,, tliey 
are, in due course, prepared for binding. 

Across the way (room 107) is tlie department of hound newspaper files; liere, also upon 
a double tier of steel shelves, are to be found the news journals of the seventeenth and 
eighteenth centuries, and modern quarto papers, while consultation tables are conveniently near. 
A^stairway leads (o the basement, where the bulk of the Society's great collection of news- 
papers is stored. 




Room 
100. 



Description. 
Public documents 

102. Atlases, maps, and manuscripts 

103. Vault .... 
105. Current newspapers . 

107. Newspaper consultation room 

110. Newspaper files 

111. Men's cloak room 

112. Toilet 

114. Women's cloak room 
lis. Toilet 



imen 


sions. 


,17 X 


45 


26 X 


39 


6 X 


10 


IS X 


24 


28 X 


45 


10 X 


32 


10 X 


40 


9 X 


28 


10 X 


40 


9 X 


28 



Room 


Description. 


Dimensions 


117. 


Janitors' store room 




118. 


U. W. Library duplicates . 


28 X 29 


120. 


Mathematics seminary 




121. 


Political Science semmary 


15x23 


122. 


Economics seminary 


22x29 


123. 


History seminary 


16x24 


125. 


History seminary 


24 X 38 


127. 


History seminary 


21x38 


Ele. 
E. 


Elevator 
Book lift 





At the north end of the first floor will be found several University seminaries, where 
advanced students may, in certain lines of investigation, under direct guidance of their 
instructors, study and use the special libraries therein stored. Room 118 is at present used by 
the University hbrary for the storage of duphcates, l)ut may eventually be occupied by the 
Wisconsin Free Library Commission, now quartered in the capitol. Room 120 is the 

(85) 



WISCONSIN STATE HISTORICAL LIBBABY BUILDING 

mathematics seminary; 121 and 122 are similarly used by the School of Economics and 
Political Science; and 123, 125, and 127 by the School of History. 

The visitor who lias, either by means of the elevator or tlie south stairway, ascended to 
the second floor, will find, when facing eastward, that aliead of him is the corridor leading 
to the offices and principal work-rooms of the Society. Tlie )>usiness office, where all visitors 
are received, is no. 205. From here, a system of local "house" telephones (with 37 stations) 




Room. Description. 

200. Toilet 

203. Secretary's office 

205. Business office 

20S. Librarian's office 

209. Vault 

210. Closet 

211. Toilet 

212. Official catalogue room 
214. Delivery room 

216. Delivery room 

217. General reading room 



Dimensions 
8.x 11 
15 X 26 
14 X 20 



29 .X 44 

10 X 27 
28 X 50 
48 X 118 



Description. 
Delivery room 
U. W. catalogue room 
U. W. librarian's office 
Toilet 
Toilet 

Janitors' store room 
Store room 
Periodical room 
Elevator 
Book lift 



Dimensions. 



and electric bells communicates with all portions of the buililing. To the left (no. 203), as 
one enters, is the office of the secretary and superintendent; to the right (no. 208) is that 
of the librarian and assistant superintendent. Beyond the latter office is a large, welldighted 
room (no. 212), where new books are accessioned, classified, and catalogued. 

When at last ready for the shelves, liooks are run out upon a truck to the adjoining 
book-stack, in the southwest wing, and dispatched by either the freight elevator or the 



DESCBIl'TION OF THK liUILDING 

book-lift to tlie particular floor to vvliich tliey have l)ccn assigned. The hook stack consists of 
six stories, cacli about 7 ft. 4 in. liigh, fitted witli steel book-shelves of tlie latest design. In 
ailihticin til the elevator and the bodk-lift, a continuous stairway connects the several floors, 
rpon each fldor nf the stack, ai'c (k'sks and tallies for the use of those specialists and 
advanced students who have been given the privilege of direct access to the shelves; every 




B- 


-^JtW" — w'~ ~ 


-^' ^^'- 






Jt^ 


■■ iiiiiB 


Room 


ir — ^ w B^*- -- • - -y — »- 

Description. E 


imension.*. 


Room. Description. 


Dimensions 


300. 


Lecture haU .... 


30 X 39 


313. Study 


10 X 28 


302, 


Wisconsin Academy of Sciei 


ces. Arts, 




316. German seminary 




16x29 




and Letters 




l.S X 24 


317. Latin and Greek seminary 




13 x 23 


303. 


Toilet 




7x 11 


319. Latin and Greek seminary 




17x24 


304. 


Toilet 




7x 8 


321. Janitors' store room 




6x 8 


306. 


Clerical office 




13 x-29 


322. French seminary . 




17x23 


308. 


Secretary's study 




14 x29 


324. Engli.sh seminary . 




22x29 


309. 


Study >;«' . 




10x2S 


325. Philosophy and Education sem 


inary lhx24 


311. 


Visitors' balcony 




10x50 


Ele. Elevator 




312. 


Art and Renealogy . 




18 x 50 


E. Book lift 







alternate case is shortened, to make room for a small desk at the end. Each tlnor of tlie stack 
will shelve somcivhat over 40,000 volumes — thus the stack-wing now coiniileled has a capacity 
of 250,000. Add to this, the liooks upon the shelves of the general reading room, the periodical 
room, the several departmental libraries, the newspaper stack in the basement, the liliraries of 
the University seminaries, and the proposed northwest stack wing (as yet unbuilt), and 

(87) 



WISCONSIN STATE HISTOEICAL LIBBABY BUILDING 



we see that the normal capacity of the building as planned will ultimately be al)out 675,000 
volumes.' 

In connection with the Society's offices are cloak and toilet rooms for the convenience of 
the staff. Upon each stack floor is a stationary wash-liasin; indeed, every floor of the building 
is abundantly provided with toilet conveniences for both public and staff. 




MUSEUM AND PORTRAIT GALLERY. 



Room. Description. 

402. Store room 

409. Toilet — men . 

411. Toilet — women 

412. Photographic dark room 



imensions. 


Room 


Description 


6x32 


41,1. 


Janitors' room 


6x17 


414. 


Stairs to roof 


9 X l.s 


421. 


Store room 


6x 8 


Ele. 


Elevator 



Dimensions. 
18 x20 



'The liook-storas-e c-ap;ieity of tli 

Stack wins (*i stories) . 

Genealogy and art department 

Reading-room shelves . 

Poole periodical room . 

Public documents department 

Maps and manuscripts department . 

Unbound newspaper room 

Newspaper consultation room (17th 
and 18th century and quarto papers) 

Bound newspaper files (in basement) 

Duplicate and stock rooms (in base- 
ment) . . . . • 



l)uildina; is classified as follow; 
Volumes 



250.001) 
0,000 
5,000 
20,000 
35,000 
3,000 
S.OOO 

10,000 
20,000 



State Historical Society ofhees 
University librarian's offices 
University seminaries . 



Add projected new stack wing, and 
present space for additional news- 
paper shelving 

Ultimate capacity of building as pro- 
jected ..... 



Volumes 
13,000 
8,000 
20,000 



413,000 



262,000 



675,000 



(SS) 



DEscmrriON of the building 

Slidulil tlio visifor 1(1 the sccdiid floor seek tlie gciier:il reading room (no. 21 7) , lie will 
aiipro:icli it tlirou.^li doulile swiiiy (lo(.>rs. Ininiedialcly u]ioii enlraiii'c will lie seen the 
delivery deparliiieiil (no. 21(i), sejiai-aled from tlie I'eadiii.u room liy four pillars; at tlie 
delivery desks— tlie one on the north (no. 218) is that of the University library, tliat 
on the south (no. 214), of the Society's library — are attendants hi whom may be made 
applications for books stored in the stacks. Near by, are tlie ]iublie eard cataioKUcs, with 
convenient stools and tables for those wishing to he seated while eonsultin_<i' the trays. The 
large hall itself, capable of seating 240 readers, is equipped with mahogany tallies and chairs, 
electric reading lamjis, and all necessary modern conveniences. Around the walls, freely 
accessible to leadcis, aie shelved some 5,000 selected reference books, covering all the princijial 





A BOOK STACK FLOOR 
Looking west, upon south side of stack E. There are six floors of stacks, of similar character. 

liranches of knowledge. The hall, lieing 80 feet high, extends up through two stories of the 
building; it is lighted not only by the great bank of windows fronting upon the eastern 
colonnade, but by ample skylights set in the museum floor overhead. Over the delivery 
depai'tment there is a balcony for the aeeouHnodation of visihirs; for only readers are admitted 
to the floor of the reading room itself. 

In the beautiful periodical room (no. 227) adjoining, in the northeast cornel', are kei)t, 
upon a double-storied steel stack, those iieri(_i(licals of both liliraries, current and bound, 
which are included in Poole's Jinlcx; also, bound hies of engineering and other technical 
periodicals. This room, as also tlie general reading room, eommunicatcs with the impressive 
colonnaded loggia running along the east front of the latter, 
xii (89) 



t 










^S^^^'^'^ 



\ 




THE PASSENGER ELEVATOR 
Upon the second floor; entrance to staff room on' left. 



BESCRII'TION OF THE BUILDING 

Leaving the great reading room l)y tiie nortli entrance, one finds himself opposite the 
administrative offices of tlie University lil)rary (no. 222), wliose catalogue room (no. 220) 
adjoins. Eventually tliis latter will, as jn'eviously stated, open directly into the northwest 
stack wing, wlu'n huill. 

As will he seen ui)()U rcicrcnce to the i>lans, a large i)art of the third floor is occupied hy 
the ujijier part of the I'eading room, and the visitors' halcony. Separated l)y a railing 
from tills halcony (no. 312) are the large genealogical collections of the Society and the 
art dciiartmonts of hoth lihraries. In connection with this departmental hl)rary, are two 
sjiecial study rooms (nos. otj'.t and lilo) for the convenience of such visitors to the ])uilding 
as are engaged in pi'otracted literary work, and need at hand large nuud)ers of reference 




Genealogical and Art Libraries 



VISITORS' BALCONY 
itliin the railing: to the right, the balcony overlooks the general reading room. 



Along the north side of the Iniilding, ui)(.)n this floor, are six University seminary 
rooms — no. 316 heing devoted to the German department, 317 and 319 to Latin and Greek, 
322 to French, 324 to English, ami 325 to philosophy and education. Some of these 
seminaries, particularly the German and French, contain notal)le s})ecial liliraries in their 
respective frekls of research. 

The rooms upon the south side of the third floor are chiefly used for the purposes 
of the Society. The lecture hall (no. 300), which wih seat about 200 persons, is used for 
meetings of the Society, the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters, and such 
other state associations as may need accommodation; it is so equipped that it can be dark- 

(91) 



Wis CONS IK STATE illSTOBICAL LIBRA BY BUILDING 

eneil at imy time nf tlic day fur storeopticon lectures, and art exhihits may also here be 
held. The adjoining eoniniittee room (no. 302) is likewise used as the Imsiness office of the 

Academy of Sciences. Toilet rooms are in the immediate neighborli 1; and in tlie rear of 

these are offices (nos. 306 and 308) which are used by tliose of the Society's staff who are 
engaged in preparing publications for the press, jiroof-reading, and official research work — it 
will l)e seen from the plan that these rooms are immediately connected witli the liook-stack, so 
as to he convenient to needed works of reference. 




ffl 



■M:, ■ ;^M^ i :^&&: 




DELIVERY ROOM 

Looking southward, from University Library counter; the Society's counter is at south end of room, beyond the public 

card catalogue. To the left, between the columns, is a view of the general reading room. 



The fourth floor will of course chiefly interest the general ])ul)lic, for here is fiuartered the 
museum. Ample arrangements have been made for the accommodation of sucli of the Society's 
collections as are fitted for exhibition. The two public stairways lead to this floor; also, the 
electric passenger and freight elevators. There are toilet rooms for both sexes, work and store 
rooms for the janittn- and cleaners, a dark room for photographers wlio may be engaged in 
making reproductions witliin the luiilding, and a series of galleries and cabinet rooms whicli so 
open one into another as at every turn to present pleasing vistas. Rooms 405 and 407 are 
devoted to American ethnology; 423 to general curiosities; 424 to Wisconsin war history; 425 to 

(9-') 



DESCRIPTION OF THK liril.DtNd 

cliiiKi, coins, etc.; and -120 to black and wliito uvt. It will lie noticed tliat the galleries are 
illuininalnl liy crnli'al skylights; wliilc the cabinet rooms (nus. -^O?, 423, and 425) receive 
light from side windows opening eitlier upon the west court, or upon an open space back of the 
topmost railing (just above the reading-room colonnade). 




IN THE MUSEUM 
Looking eastward, Oirough Uie north gallery. 



(03) 



BRIEF HISTORY OF THE SOCJ ICTY 



A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 



BY REtTBEN G. TIIWAITES. 



^ 



The Sac/fjcstion. 

N THE autumn of 1845, liicluird H. Magoon, an early settler of what is now La Fay- 
ette county, Wisconsin, suggested to Chauncey C. Britt, editor of the Mineral Point 
Dcmocral, the advisaliility of organizing an liislorical sdciety " lo collect from tlie 
pioneers then alive, such facts in regard to the early history of W'isconshi as they 

might possess, as well as to treasure u]) those 

concei'ning the future." In an article in his 

journal of the date of Octoher twenty-second, 

1845, Editor r>ritt forcildy seconded the motion, 

and asked liis Itrcllii'cn of tlie press "to kee]) 

this hall in motion until the object is attained." 

Tlic Madison Argiis, of the twenty-eighth of 

October, fell in with the idea, and very soon all 

of the papers of Wisconsin Territory responded 

favorably to tlic call; while (ien. William R. 

Smith, a distinguished piont'er lawyer of Min- 
eral Point, pi'ivately urged the matter in his 

neighborhood. 

It was hoped that, as a conseciuence of the 

agitation, something would be done in this ili- 

rection during tlic loi-thconiing session of the 

territorial legislature at Madison; but the ses- 
sion was a brief one, lasting only from .January 

fifth to February third, 1846, and other affairs 

occui)ied the minds of the representative men 

gathered at the capital during that period. In 

September, 184G, Mr. Britt renewed his edito- 
rial advocacy of the ))roject, in the Milwaukee 

Courier, with which he was connected, and atl- 

vised that during the convention that liad been 

called to frame a state constitution, a meeting be held to perfect the proposed historical society. 

The Madison Ex'preas and several other journals followed the Courier's lead in this suggestion. 

(95) 




THE SOCIETY'S LIBRARY, IN ISSJ 
The case is now preserved in the museum. 



WISCO^SIN STATE IIISTOBICAL LIBRARY BUILDING 



The First Organization, I84(). 

The first constitutional convention opened at Madison tlie fifth of Octobei', 1846, most of 
tlie principal men of the territory being chosen as delegates to the body. Judge Thomas P. 
Burnett, of Grant county, one of tlie members, was, owing to illness, nine days late in reach- 
ing jMadison; but upon his arrival lie proceeded amid his other duties to do what he could 
to carry out the iiroject of an histiii'iral society.' He called a meeting of a few prominent dele- 
gates at his room in tlie American House, among those present being Gov. James Duane Doty, 
Gen. William R. Smith, Thomas W. Sutherland, George tlyer, A. Hyatt Smith, and Don A. J. 
Upham. Judge Burnett, who was among the most eminent of the early jurists of A\'iseonsin, 
addressed the meeting, and it was resolved to organize such a society. 




The arrangement 



IX THK NEWSPAPER ST.iCK 
chronological, outside ol Wisconsin; alphabetical by localities, for the state papers 



A nmrc fdi-mal mectiic.,;' was held in the State Library romii ol' llu' old ( :i;>il()l, a few even- 
iiios \;\[vr, both cunlVreiices boiiig hclil Ik twceii the fourteenth and the { wculy-liflli of Octobei': 
no rec-ord exists of the exact dates, and the lo;al newsp;ii)ers fade 1 to notice the affair. A. Hyatt 
Siiiith (jf Jauesville is reported t(.) have been chairman of the second meeting, and to htive lieen 
chosen iiresideut of the Society; Judge Burnett tmd (.iovernor Doty were selected ;is vice-presi- 
dents, E. M. Williamson (}f Madison as treasurer, and Mr. Sutherland as secretary. A con- 
stitution jiroviding for life and acti\'e members was adopted, and the officers were to hold until 
the lirst annual meeting in January following. Governor Doty was selected as the lirst annual 
orator; Init at this annual meeting in January, 1847, held soon after the commencement of the 
legislative session, the governor failed to make the reciuested address. New officers were 
cliosen, Morgan L. JMartin of Green Bay lieing selected as president, while Sutherland and 
Williamson were re-elected to be secretary and treasurer respectively. There were, however, 
neither records kept nor money paid into the treasury, and the new jiresident diil not deliver 
tlie address he had been invited to preptire. 



'A formal call bad been publisiied iu the Madison Exjircss for September 20, 1846. 



BRIEF HI STORY OF THE SOCIETY 

The year had pasRt'd witlidut jirnoross or tlic iRTfoniiancc of any official (hity. In Jan- 
uary, 1S4S, (hiriiit;- (he scroiid conslitiitional ronvfution, another mcelinti' was held, ( ieiici'al 
Sniitli heing- eleeted president. But the gathering was a failure, hoth as to nundjers and 
interest, less than a dozen persons being present; the lirst organization of the Society may 
he considered as having died when the gaA'el sounde<l for adjournment. 

The Second Organization, 1849. 

There was, in after years, wdien tlie Society became successful, some dispute as to whom 
the honor should l>e awarded for reviving tlie liistorical society idea a twelve-month later. 
The jiarties to the dispute have now passed away, and we may safely inquire into its 
merits. To Eleazer Root, of- Waukesha, Wisconsin's first state superintemlent of jndilic 
instruction, is doubtless chiefly due the credit of "the efficient movement" in this direction. 




THK READING ROOM CKIIJXO 
ShowiiiK two of the panels of art glass, in ceilinK of general reading room. 

From this time forward tlie records of the Society are com])lete, and from them we learn that, 
on the twenty-nintli of .January, 1849, nineteen days after the opening of the first session of 
the state legislature in Madison, a number of citizens and legislators held a meeting at the 
American House to take into consideration the project of forming a state liistorical society, 
the existence of the previous society being ignored. Of this meeting, John Y. Smith of Dane 
county was chosen chairman, and E. M. Williamson, also of Dane, secretary. Superintendent 
Root explained the object sought. It w^as voted to organize such a society, and George Reed 
of Waukesha and Mr. Root were appointed a committee to draft a constitution and circulate 
a call. 

The following evening, as a result of this (.■all, a well-attended popular meeting was con- 
vened in the senate chamber in the state house. Mr. Root was called to the <-]iair, and (ien- 
eral Smith served as secretary. Judge Charles H. Larrabee of Dodge, Samuel Crawford of 
Iowa, Alfred Brunson of Crawford, General Smith, and John Y. Smith made explanatory 
speeches. It was again formally decided to organize a society, and George Reed, .John Y. 
Smith, and Increase A. LajJiam of Milwaukee, were appointed a committee to draft a consti- 
tution. A brief and simi)le ilocuinent was at once submitted and unanimously ad(.)i)ted, giving 
the name of the organization as " The Historical Society of Wisconsin," 
.\iii (97) 



WISCONSIN STATE IIISTOIUCAL LIBBAEY BUILDING 



The following persons 
the legislature, with others 
commonwealth: 

Name 
Jonathan E. Avnold 
David Atwood 
Hiram Barber 
W. A. Barstow . 
Samuel W. Beall 
J. 0. Bennett 
fteorge W. Bicknell 
W. R. Biddlecome 
Alexander Botkin 
Joseph Bowrou . 
John W. Boyd . 
Ebenezer Brigham 
Alfred Branson . 
Beriah Brown 
John A. Bryan . 
Royal Buek 

B. B. Gary 
John Catlin 

C. B. Chapman . 
C. S. Chase 
Daniel Claghorn 
Julius T. Clark . 
J. H. W. Colby . 
O. M. Conover . 
Jlontgomery M. Cothri 
John C. Crawford 
Samuel Crawford 

Dake 

M. C. Darliiio; . 

Anson Dart 

John Delaney 

G. P. Delaplaine 

Nelson Dewey 

W. H. Dick ' . 

James D. Doty . 

Erastus W. Drury 

Charles Dunn 

William Dntcher 

Ben.iamin C. Eastman 

A. G. Ellis 

L. J. Farwell 

John Favill 

G. W. Featherstonliauj 

Michael Frank . 

George Gale 

E. T. Gardner . 



signed tlie roll ' — mo 
who were known as 



'Most of them appear merely to have authorized their names tc 
is not always such as was adopted by the individuals themselves 
the roll itself. 

(98) 



-it of them lieing state officials or members of 
among the most distinguished citizens of the 



County 

Fond du Lac 

Dane 

Sauk 

Richland 

Sheboygan 

Jefferson 

Dane 

St. Croix 

Milwaukee 

Dane 

Grant 

Waukesha 

Winnebago 

Iowa 

Oconto 

Milwaukee 

Walworth 

( 'olumbia 

Milwaukee 

Dane 

('rawford 

La Fayette 

Milwaukee 

Dodge 

( 'olnmbus 

Dane 

I?acine 

Grant 

Marathon 

1^1'own 

Dane 

Sauk 

Waukesha 

I-'ortage 

Sauk 

Washington 

Door 

Ija Pointe 

Waukesha 

IMilwaukee 

Milwaukee 

Waukesha 

Waukesha 

Grant 

Grant 

Dodge 

be signed by the secretary, whose spelling 
, The orthograi:)hy in our list, is that of 



County 


Namu 


Milwaukee 


J. M. GiUet 


Dane 


Alexander T. Gray 


Dodge 


Agoston Haraszthy 


Waukeslui 


Hazeltine 


Fond du Lac 


Harrison C. Hobart 


Racine 


•John E. Holmes 


Rock 


Beujanun Holt . 


Grant 


Otis Hoyt 


Dane 


Levi Hulibell . 


St. Croix 


F. Huds,m 


Wa,lw,)rth 


William Hull 


Daiu' 


J. W. Hunt, M. D. 


Crawford 


A. C. Ingham 


Dane 


M. M. Jackson . 


Milwaukee 


Daniel Jones 


Dane 


Solomon Juneau 


l-Jacine 


D. M. Keeler 


Dane 


Joseph Kerr 


Dane 


Byron Killjourne 


Racine 


J. Gillet Knapp . 


Adams 


Wyram Knowlton 


Dane 


A. P. Ladd 


Manitowoc 


I. A. Lapham 


Daiu' 


Charles H. Larrabee 


1 1 ) wa 


J. T. Lewis 


(ireen 


Charles Lord 


Iowa 


Frederick S. Ln\-ell 


La. Pointe 


Cyrus R. Low . 


Fond du Lac 


W. ]'. Jlclndoe . 


Marquette 


M. L. Martin . 


Poi'tage 


Peter W. Matts . 


Dane 


James Maxwell . 


(xrant 


John H. Meigs . 


Calumet 


George W. Mitclicll 


Winnebago 


G. 1). G. :\roore . 


Fond du Lac 


Benjamin H. Jlonres 


La Fayette 


Charles l-'eml)er . 


Jeftcrs(m 


Charles Pulsifer . 


<.irant 


A. W. Randall . 


Brown 


Francis Randall . 


Dane 


Dnnean C. Reed 


Dane 


George Reed 


Crawford 


Eleazer Root 


liacine 


John H. Rountree 


Walworth 


J. S. Russell 


Green 


Malcolm Sellers . 



llhTKF IIISTOJIY OF THE SOCIETY 



Namio 




i'ovK'vy 


Namk 


AlivMiii 1). Sinilli 


i\lilwaukee 


\V. S. 'rilil)ets . 


(icdvi^v 1!. Smith 




Dane 


.1. A. Tdwnsend . 


.li.lm V. Sniilh . 




Dane 


I'hil,. White 


Hudolpli Van Dyke Sin 


th 


St. Croix 


Kilward V. Whiton 


AVilliam R. Smith 




Inwa 


a. D. Wilbur, M. D 


J. W. StorhuK . 




Dane 


Myron B. Williams 


William '1'. Sterling- 




( 'hippewa 


E. M. Williamson 


-Idlin W. Stewart 




(xreen 


Lewis N. Wood . 


,^[avshall M. Stirmo- 




Kaeine 


( 'yrns WoudnKiu 


M. M. Strung- . 




Iowa 


H. A. Wright . 


Thomas W. Siitlu'rlaml 


Dane 


.1. Wiig-ht 


Henry W. Tenney 


Milwaukee 


T. L. Wrig-ht . 


H. A. Tenney . 


Dane 







County 
Bad Ax 
Wausliai-a, 
Racine 
Rock 
Iowa 
Jefferson 
Dane 
Walworth 
l.nva 

Crawfoi'd 
Dane 
Rock 



A GLANCE UPWARD 
Carved rosettes upon ceiling of east loggia; also showing carving on side walls. 



Gov. Nelson Dewey was elioson president of tlie Society, under a clause of the constitution 
providing that the gxivemor slioiild so act, l>y virtue of his official station. The list of vice- 
presidents comprised one from each county in the state. I. A. La]>ha.m, ;i distinguished 
scientist and antiquarian, was elected corresponding secretary; Rev. Charles Lord of Dane, 
recording secretary; E. M. AVilliamson, treasurer; and Joint ('atlin, Beriah Brown, and Alex- 
ander Botkin, all of Dane, the executive committee. The other business of tlie meeting 
consisted solely of the passage of two resolutions: the first, inviting General Smith to deliver 
an address at the next airnual meeting; the second, asking the surveyors of the state to furnish 
to the Society "actual metisuremeuts of the tuicicnt mounds and artificial earthworks in their 
vicinity." 

(99) 



Tr/.S'COiY.S'AV STATE HISTOIUCAL LIBIiARY BUILDING 

On tlie evening of Tuesdaj', Januaiy fifteenth, 1850, General Smitli delivered in the 
assembly chamber the first annual address before the Society, the judges of the supreme court 
and the regents of the State University being present as invited guests. The recording secre- 
tary has entered upon his journal that " the discourse was elaborate in its researches, felicitous 
in its style, classical in its tone, and pervaded throughout with a spirit of accuracy and of 
beauty, and by a warm sympathy with the truth uttered and the events and persons described." 
And, indeed, the printed copy of the address, which lies open before me as I write, warrants 
this warm encomium; it carefully mapped out, for the first time, the general course of early 
Wisconsin history, and later explorers in that field have but added details to our knowledge. 




J.llikAkiAN BRADLEY S UHFICK 
Through the open door is seen Uie cataloguing room. 



On Tuesday evening, .January twenty-first, 1851, .Morgan L. Martin delivered the annual 
address; and March si.\teenth, 1852, Lewis N. Wood of Walworth was the third annual 
speaker. But beyond these three addresses nothing of importance was done during this period. 
The discourses, in pamphlet form, were sent out to perhaps a dozen other learned societies, 
and a library of fifty volumes was slowly accumulated — these books being state laws, legislative 
journals, miscellaneous pul)lic documents, two volumes of the Transactions of the American 
Ethnological Society, and a volume on American bibliography. The meagre collection was 
contained in a small glass-faced case, three by four feet, kept on a table in a corner of the 
o-overnor's office, and this case is now exhibited as a curiosity in the Society's museum. 

(lUO) 



inilEF niSTORY OF THE SOCIETY 



The liCdrf/fiii iziil i(i>i, 1^5.','. 

Tl was cvic.lont that the Soeioty would never amount to anytliing, at tliis rate of progress. 
What was everybody's bushiess was nobody's; someone must devote his entire time to the 
work, becoming personaUy responsible for the conduct of the Society's affairs, and imparting to it 
hfc and individual character. The man for the place was imported Id Madison in October, 
1852. He was Lyman Copeland Draper, of Philadelphia, who had already speirt alxjut fifteen 
years in the accumulation of materials for Western history, achieving such success in las 
manuscript and book collections, in a time wdien collectors of Amei-icanaw^ere few, as to attract 
the attention of scholars throughout the Eastern states. Draper was then thirty-seven years 
of age, full of vigor and push, kindly of disposition, persuasive in argument, devoted to his 
life-task of collecting, self-denying in tire cause, arvl of unimpeachable character. 

For various reasons, not necessary Iiere to recite, it w'as the eighteenth day of .January, 
1854, before tlie Society was thoroughly reor- 
ganized for work on the new plan.' Dr. Draper 
was at that time chosen secretary, and at once 
entered witli jiiyous enthusiasm ui)on the 
under-taking of accumulating books for the 
library, relics and curidsities for the museum, 
portraits for the gallery, and documents for pub- 
lication in the Wisconsin Historical Collections^. 
In the course of a few weeks the little library 
case was too small. By the close of the year 
the secretary w'as enabled to report to the Soci- 
ety the acquisition of a thousand volumes and 
a thousand pamphlets and documents — cer- 
tainly a remarkable showing as compared witii 
the fifty books wdnch had been the product of the 
five years preceding his active administration. 
For want of library space the greater part of 
the acquisitions were stored in Draper's resi- 
dence until, in August, 1855, a smaH room in 
the corner of the basement of the local Baptist 
church" was secured for the Society's use. 

On the first of January, 1856, Daniel Steele Durrie, a bookseller formerly in Imsiness at 
Albany, N. Y., was chosen librarian, and held this position for over thirty-six years, until his 
death, August thirty-first, 1892.' Fie was succeeded by Isaac S. Bradley,* for seventeen years 
his cliief assistant. 




DANIEL STEELE DURRIE 
First librarian of the Society, 1856-1892 



' Dr. Draper was electetl to membership .January 19, 1853, at the fourth auuual meeting' of the old 
organization. January 28, Judge Cliarles H. Larrabee, of Dodge county, who had been chiefly instrumental 
in inducing Draper to come to Wisconsin, inti'odueed the draft of a charter for the Society, which was at 
once adopted by the latter and passed by the legislature, being approved by the governor on March 4. But 
owing to differences of opinion among the members, it was not until January 18, 1854, that the Society 
could be induced to adopt a new constitution under this charter, and put Draper to work. 

^In 1900 this church, sold by the Baptists to the Wisconsin Telephone Co., was greatly changed in 
appearance, and converted into offices for that corporation. 

' See Wiftconsin Historical Society Procecdiiujft, 1892, pp. 18,19,73-81, for biographical sketches of Mr. Durrie. 

'Mr. Bradley was appointed assistant librarian April 9, 1875, and elected librarian September 6, 1892. 

(101) 



WISCONSIN STATE HISTOBICAL LIBEABY BUILDING 

The Society soon securing legislative aid, the collections grew apace until nearly the entire 
basement of the church was occupied. Tliis place was, however, dark, damp, and dingy, 
little suited to library purposes. In January, 1866, the institution — library, portrait gallery, 
and museum — was removed bj' authority of the legislature to cjuarters especially prepared for 
it in the then new south wing of the capitol. It was thought that there was now ample room 
for the accessions of at least a quarter of a century. But such was the rate of increase that 
in less than ten years' time these quarters were crowded. By 1881, cords of volumes, pamphlets, 
and relics were piled in out-of-the-way corners and rooms tlu'oughout the capitol, there being- 
no space to shelve or display them. 

Secretary Draper, as the executive officer of the Society, now opened a vigorous campaign 
for a new building; he awakened interest in many of the leading men of the state, and gained 
tlie unanimous support of the newspaper editors. But there were certain complications which 
made it then impossible to carry a separate building scheme through the legislature. A 
comiiromise resulted in tlie Society being given the second, third, and fourtli floors of the 
southernmost of two large transverse wings ordered by the legislature of 1882 to be attached to 
the capitol. In December, 1884, the transfer was made to the new and greatly enlarged 
quarters, the library occupying the second and third floors of the wing, and the museum and 
portrait gallery the fourth. Having seen the Society established in its new rooms, Secretary 
Draper resigned his position on the sixth of .lanuary, 1887, with a record of thirty-three years 
of arduous labor in behalf of the state. He was succeeded by Reuben G. Thwaites, who had 
been his assistant for two years. 

It was Dr. Draper's wish to devote tlie remainder of his life td forwarding some private 
literary work; hut he was prevented by ill-health from accomi)lishing his long-cherished plans 
in this direction, and died on the twenty-sixth of iVugust, 1891. The Wisconsin historical 
Hbrary, whirli he iiraclically founded, and so successfully managed and purveyed for through 
a third of a century, will remain an enduring monument to his tireless energy as a collector 
of Americana; while the first ten volumes of WixcDiiftui Historical Collections attest his 
ciuality as an editor of material for Western history.' 

Although disappointed at the result of his campaign in 1881-82 for a new building, in the 
end it proved a fortunate outcome for the Society. The appropriation then sought was but 
$50,000, from which only such a building could be constructed as soon would have been recog- 
nized as in every way inadequate to the fast-growing needs and purposes of the institution.^ 

The quarters in the new south wing, at first thought ample, were soon outgrown. The 
annual report of the executive committee of the Society, for 1887, first suggested the need "in 
the not far-distant future ... of a separate building, so fashioned as artistically to admit 
of almost indefinite expansion; and constructed on the best obtainable plans, as to beauty, 
utility, and approximate indestructibility." The committee returned to the charge in 1888. 
In the legislature of 1889, State Senator Levi E. Pond introduced a bill appropriating $300,000 
(part of the war tax which was soon to be refunded to Wisconsin by the general government) 
for a Soldiers' Memorial Hall, to serve as a home for the Society, but "the entrance hall to be 
decorated with inscriptions in memory" of Wisconsin's veterans in the War of Secession. 
The senate passed the bill by a large majority, but it was defeated in the assembly. The execu- 
tive committee, in its report for the year, does not, however, abandon the struggle: " Whether 



' See Wisconsin Historical Collections, vol. xii, pp. 1-22, tin- a memoir of Dr. Draper. 
- That was the sum mentioned in Dr. Draper's eovresponilcuee ; Init subse(iuently the defeated bill called 
for $200,000, to be paid in two equal annual appropriations. 

(102) 



imiKF nrsTouY of tui': society 

this new and separate luiililiiii;- is (u lake (lie Inriu ol' a, memorial liall, (ir not, is of course for 
the legislature in its wisdom to decide. lUil fur the building itself, llieiv is a erying need." 
Still more vigorous are the committee's animal ajijieals in 1890, 1891, and 1892. 

It was late in 1891 tliat President Tliomas (_'. ('liamberlin, of the State University, first sug- 
gested to the connnittee, of wliieli lie was a member, the desirabihty of asking the legislature 
for a buikhny in the ueiobboi'liood of the campus, which should house the libraries both of the 
Society and the rni\'ersity; but at tlie time a majority of the committee did not deem such 
et)i')iicration desirable foi' tin.' Society, although it was demonsti'ated that 95 per cent of tliose 
who used the Society's library wtTe members of the Uni\-ersity. A yviw later, tlie ])roposition 
was (hscussed in greater detail, with the result that (January 1(1, 1893) the committee adojited 
till' following resolution: 

" licsolml, Tliat the Society unite witli tlie State University and the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, 
Arts, and Letters in asking the legislature at its coming session to erect a building upon or near the Uni- 
versity grounds, for the proper accommodation of the libraries of the three institutions, as well as of the 
gallery and museum of the Society; provided that the title of tlie site shall rest in the iiaiiic of (he Society 
as the trustee of the state." 

A bill carrying an appropriation of .$42(J,000 for tliis i)uri.)ose was offei'ed in the legislature 
of 1893; but after trembUng in the balance for some weeks, it was allowed to give way to the 
University's other and perhaps more pressing needs. In 1895, a new measure was, witli 
great effort, successfully carried through — by its provisions, the University deeding to the 
state eight lots of land as a site, and the building being ordered erected for the especial use of 
the Society as the trustee of the state, "and such other libraries and collections as may be 
placed in the custody of said historical society." This act carried a preliminary approi>ria- 
tion of $180,000, to which sum the succeeding legislature (1897) added $240,000, and that of 
1899 a still further grant of $200,000. This furnished a total of $fi20,000, but all of this sum 
was not availal)le for the i)uri>ose. The money being voted in the form of tax levies of 
$100,000 ))er year,' the building commissioners were obliged to anticijiate the income by 
loans from the state trust funds; thus, nearly $40,000 will be paid Imrk into the state treas- 
ury as interest, leaving only about $580,000 for construction, eijuipment, architects' and inspec- 
tors' fees, and miscellaneous charges. 

The Socicti/ and flic State. 

From the first, the Wisconsin legislature, with enliglitened liberality, looked kindly on the 
State liistorical Society, and maile apiirojiriations witli wliicli to imrchase accessions, meet the 
greater part of tlic running exiienses, and jiay the necessai'y salaries of the working staft'. Tlie 
relationsliip of the Society to tlie state is not generally understood, even in Wisconsin. It is, 
however, easy of comprehension. By statute, the Society, which operates under the legislative 
charter granted in 1853, is the trustee of the state, and holds all of its property for the common- 
wealth. It can neither sell nor give away the property it thus holds in trust, nor permanently 
remove any of it from the State Historical Library Building without special consent of the' 
legislature. As to stationery, ])rinting, and postage, the Society is on pretty much the same 
footing as any of the state bureaus. Tlie machinery of the Society serves to remove the nuin- 
agement of this enterprise from i)artisan control; the members are men of jn'ominence 

' The acts of 1895 and 18(J7 provided for an annual tax levy of one-tenth of a mill for each dollar of the 
assessed valuation of the taxable property of the state; but in lS!Ji) this was changed to speeitic annual 
appropriations of $100,000 a year, closing with the year 1903. 

(103) 



WISCONSIN STATE HISTOEICAL LIBSARY BUILDING 

throughout the state, of all shades of political and religious opinion; and since its organization 
there has not heen even a suspicion of "politics" in the conduct of its affairs. The Society is 
an institution which all good citizens unite in declaring should he free from such haneful 
influences. Tlie work is thus left in the hands of those having a keen interest in it, and 
especially trained to its performance. As for the official interests of the commonwealth, they 
are looked after hy the governor, secretary of state, and state treasurer, wlio are by law ex-ofKcio 
members of the executive committee. The fact that these officers have the power to report 
upon the Society's operations, and the further fact that the legislature can at any time investi- 
gate its affairs, tend to make the management scrupulously careful. 

The legislature has certainly been generous to the Society. With a few notable exceptions, 
and those in earlier years, the latter's relations with the governing body have been harmonious. 
The Society could not have been successfully maintained in this state without liberal official 
aid — far removed, as it is, from the intellectual and moneyed centres of the nation, and thereby 
laboring under peculiar difficulties.' 



'"The Society was originally a (.■havtered institution; but iu a new country, where so few had wealth 
to l>estow on oiu' literary institutions, it would have languished, and probably died for want of adequate 
support, had not the state stepped in, and given it an aniiual appropriation, piiblished its volumes of 
Collections and Cntdhji/iies, and in other ways inijiarted to it life and prosperity: and in doing so, changed 
the character of its ownership, till now 'the Society,' in the language of the Revised Statutes, is but 'the 
trustee of the state.' The state then being the bona fide owner, should, it is generally conceded, properly 
provide for its accommodation."— Secretary Draper's letter to the Wisconsin Editorial Association, Octo- 
ber 1, 1881. 




A DOOR IN GENERAL READING ROOM 



(104) 



TIIK WiUlK OF rriK SOCIKTY 



THE WORK OF THE WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 



BY REUBEN G. THWAITES. 



mm 



THE State Historical Society of Wisconsin is engaged in several lines of work, which 
arc defined in the following extract from the "Objects" section of its constitution: 
' Its object shall be the collection, preservation, exhibition and publication of materials for the 
tudy of history, especially the history of this state and of the Middle West: to this end exploring 
the archaeology of said region, acquiring documents and manuscripts, obtaining narratives and records of 
pioneers, conducting a library of historical refei'ence, maintaining a gallery of historical portraitui'e and an 
ethnological and historical museum, publishing and otherwise diffusing information relative to the history 
of the region, and in general encouraging and developing within this state the study of history. It shall 
also perform such other and kindred duties as are now oi' may hereafter be imposed upon it by the laws of 
the state." 

For the purposes of the present article, these activities may properly be grouped under the 
headings of Publications, Museum, and Lil)rary; but in addition to these much is constantly 
being done l>y tlie Society in practical researcli and in generally encouraging the interests of 
historical study in Wisconsin. 

Puhlications. 

The Society has published fifteen volumes of Wisconsin Historical Collections, averaging 
five hundred pages each; the Proceedings of its annual meetings, with the historical addresses 
and papers presented thereto; the Catalogue of its lilu-ary, in seven volumes, of seven to eight 
hundred pages each; three special class catalogues — Books on the United States Civil War and 
Slavery, Bibliography of Wisconsin Authors, and an annotated Cittalogiw of Newspaper Files; 
three editions of its Portrait Gallery Catalogue, and numerous monographs and Bulletins of 
Information. 

Tlte Museum. 

The Society is nruch in need of money for the purchase of accessions to its historical and 
ethnological museum. This department has, in the past, relied almost wholly upon the 
generosity of the people of the state, and will always depend in considerable measure upon 
this source; but it cannot do its l)est work as a factor in the education of the people until 
endoweil witli a purdiasing fund. AI)out fifty thousand iiersons visited the museum annually, 
while in the capitol, and doul)tless this number will lie much increased in its new quarters. 

The ethnological department is fairly equipped, particularly as to M'isconsin stone and 
copper implements; there is also a good collection of mound pottery from Missouri and 
Arkansas. Of the numerous history relics, tlie most valuable is tlie famous silver ostensorium 
xiv (105) 







| P!Bi«33!1 3i333i 33iSiflM[ffi g 




W ^ ■" 
> O -o 

"'"So 



TIIK W(mK OF THE SOCIETY 

(or soldi) presented by the French eommamlant, NicoUis Perrot, to the Jesuit mission at De Pere 
in 1686. Prominently exliihited, is what is probably the first printing press brought to Wis- 
consin (1833). There are numerous relics of the Western fur trade, French, English, and 
American — perhaps the most curious of these being a wooden anchor recovered frum tlic 
bottom of Fox River, at Green Bay. The visual reminders of Wisconsin's war history, from 
1812-15 to the Spanisli-American imbroglio, occupy a large room, the chief object of interest 
being the stuffed remains of " Olil Abe," the Wisconsin war eagle. Captured Confederate flags, 
and the memorial sword and silver punch-bowl presented by naval officers to Lieut. -Colonel 
Bailey, of " Red River dam " celebrity, are also of general interest. There is a room devoted to 
photographs and engravings, which includes groups of the several legislatures back to 185G; 
within cases, in this room, are also exhibits of rare books and manuscripts — tlie latter being 
frequently changed. One cabinet room is largely devoted to china, coins, and other interesting 
bric-a-brac, some of it of considerable historical and artistic importance. Another hall is 
devoted to miscellaneous curiosities. 

Lining the walls throughout, is the Society's large colIectii:>n of portraits, chiefly of Wis- 
consin worthies; there being about 200 oils and numerous busts in plaster, marble, and bronze. 

The Library. 

Because amassed under the administration of an historical society, many persons erro- 
neously suppose that the library is devoted exclusively to history — a still smaller number 
take it for granted that the collection is wholly one of Wisconsin history. Viewing liistory 
simply as the record of whatever man has thought and wrought, the Society has accumulated 
a general reference library, in wlii(/h the greatest stress has, however, Ijeen laid upon American 
and English history and geography, economics, and the political and social sciences. 

On account of the proximity of the University of Wisconsin, about 95 per cent of its readers 
are instructors and students from that institution; in purveying for the library their wants are 
taken into consideration. University students doing original wurk oi some importance are, 
under certain restrictions, allowed access to the book-stack, the same as other special investi- 
gators. Members of the University are, in fact, encouraged to use the library as freely as they 
do that of the University itself, wdiich is now under the same roof, with reading and delivery 
rooms in common. Both are the property of and supported by the state, and are features of 
its educational system. 

In 1875, the miscellaneous Ijooks of the State Lilirary, in the eai)itol, were transferred, 
by order of the legislature,' to the Society's library, leaving tlie former purely a state law 
library, under the control of the justices of the supreme court; wdiile the latter became, to all 
intents and purposes, the miscellaneous State Library in charge of the Historical Society, as 
the trustee of the state. The relations between the two libraries, both the property of the 
commonwealth, are most cordial, and they cooperate so far as possible. 

The Society's library now numbers about 230,000 titles. The average annual increase is 
3,500 volumes and 3,000 pamphlets; nearly two-thirds of the former are purchased, but not 
over ten per cent of the latter. In the West, large private libraries are not so numerous as in 
the East, and these are generally in the possession of young or middle-aged men. Thus our 
library has not that fertile source of supply enjoyed by the older libraries of the Atlantic 
slope, in the receipt of books by bequest. Only once has it had a large gift of tliis character. 

'Chapter 1251, Laws of 1875. 

(107) 



)riscoNstN STATU HISTORICAL libhahy building 

In 1866, Mrs. Otto Tank, of Fort Howard, gave to the Society the Hbrary of lier father, a 
scholarly Amsterdam clergyman, named Van der Meulen. Coming to her by will, and having 
no place to store the books, she presented them to the Society on condition that it pay the 
freight charges from Holland, which it was glad enough to do. The Tank library consists of 
somewhat over 5,000 old and rare volumes, mostly in the Dutch language; it is probably the 
largest collection of Dutch books in the United States. Nearly half of tliem are richly bound 
in vellum, and many are profusely illustrated with seventeenth-century copper-plate engravings. 
In the collection are numerous Bibles, atlases, and charts, old editions of the classics, early 
lexicons, and historical works. These old Dutch books are among the most interesting of the 
Society's possessions. 

The principal daily and weekly newspapers of the state are sent gratis to the library, for 
l:)inding and permanent preservation. Some two liundred vdlunies are annually made up in 
tliis manner, three years of the smaller weeklies being bound in a volume. These files gen- 
erally reach back to the first issues of the journals represented. It is found that the state 
papers are frequently referred to by judges, lawyers, members of the legislature, local historians, 
and special investigators of every sort; while, as the Society's files are in many cases the only 
full ones in existence, editors themselves sometimes have occasion to examine them in the 
library, or to write for data contained in early issues. 

The Society's collection of bound newspaper files outside of the State amounts to about 9,000 
volumes, being probal)ly the largest in the United States, save that of the Library of Congress. 
The earliest English file is that of the Mercurius AuUcus of Oxford, bearing date 1643-45. 
From that time forward, there are few years not represented by the file of some prominent 
Enghsh or American journal. From 1730 on, the collection is unusually strong, especially in 
the American department. 

The department of maps and numuscripts possesses many I'iclies. Tlie collection of 
American historical maps is notable. Tliat of manuscripts is unexaini)led in the field of the 
Middle West and the South, from about 17.35 to the close of tln' War of lSl-.^-]5 — tlie famous 
Draper Collection; the history of Wisconsin and of the Indians, the fur trade, and the political 
and economic beginnings of the Old Northwest may here be studied in abundant detail, both 
in maps and in manuscripts. The Wisconsin material is of course particularly plentiful. 

The Society's collection of public documents — national, state, and municipal reports, both 
domestic and foreign — widely attracts students of social and political science. It is strongest 
in the regions of the Old Northwest, and the commonwealths west of the Mississippi River. 

The genealogical collection is one of the three or four largest in the United States. It is 
strong in the histories of families, and in the materials for genealogical research, such as local 
histories — both American and English — and the pul)lications of the principal English and 
American record-publishing societies. In the manuscript department there are, especially in 
the famous Draper Collection, abundant original records, valuable in tracing ancestries from 
the principal Western borderers. 

The Society's collection of Shakesjieareana numbers about a thousand volumes, among 
them some of the most celel)rated of modern editions, such as the Boydell folio (1802), .Johnson 
&Steevens (1813), Halliwell-Phillips folio (1853-65), facsimile of the first folio edition (London, 
1866), and Ashbee & Halliwell's lithographic facsimile reprints of early quarto editions of the 
separate plays (London, 1866-71, 48 vols.). It also contains the pubhcations both of the 
Shakespeare Society (1848-53) and the New Shakespeare Society (1874-81); and possesses 
unusually full data for a study of the Shakespeare-Bacon controversy. 

(108) 



Tin: woiiK or riiK socrrrr 

In I0C11I Aninicnn history, tlic lil>i':iry is pni-licularly rich. Most of llic (own, county, and 
state histories in Ihc United State's ami Canada niayhciv he I'ound, and adili(i(.)ns arc constantly 
licino- made, as oiiportunity occurs. The local history of several of the states of the Union 
may ho. we are fi'ciiuently told hy those l)est informed therein, studied in the Wisconsin lihrary 
to hotter advantas'o than in the states themselves. 

Scliolars from all i>arts of tlio West, and frequently from the Atlantic slo]ie, may, esi)ecially 
in the summer moiilhs, often he mel in the alcoves of the Society's lihrary. 




A STAIRWAY BRACKET 

An electric fixtmes are of the beat bronze, and designecl especiaUy 

for this building. 



(109) 



THE UNIVEUSITY LIBRARY 



THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN 



BY WALTER McMYNN SMITH, LIBRARIAN. 



THE library of the University of "Wisconsin can liardly l:>e said to possess a liistory 
separate from that of the institution of which it is an integral part. When a college 
is founded, it must have a library, at least on paper, but in sti'uggling times its 
growth is necessarily slow. Instructors a college must have, and buildings; so it is 
easier to make expenditures remain within the biounds of slender revenue by curtailing appro- 
priations for books and apparatus, than in any other way. Hence the history of the Univer- 
sity library, in its periods of growth and dejiression, simply repeats tliat of the University as a 
whole. 

The first mention of the library in the publications of the University is found in the Third 
Annual Report of the Board of Regents, dated January, 1851. Here the existing condition 
and future growth of the University library are discussed, and in an appendix is printed a 
" Catalogue of Books in the Library of the University of Wisconsin, January 1st, 1850." This 
somewhat curious collection of books, numbering about 800 volumes, was made up largely of 
gifts; and one is more impressed with the spirit of generosity in the donors than by the value 
of the collection as the foundation of a working college library. 8uch was the hopeful begin- 
ning of the library. Its growth was, however, rather slow; and in successive reports of presi- 
dent and librarian attention is called to the lack of a suitable working liljrary. In the ten years 
from 1850 to 1860, the total number of volumes increased from "nearly 800 volumes" to 
"over 3,000 volumes." Even slower was its growth during the next decade, as the best that 
could be said in the catalogue of 1870 was, "the University library comprises nearly 4,000 vol- 
umes." Then followed somewhat better times. In 1880, the library contained 9,000 volumes, 
and this number in 1890 had grown to 19,000. The last decade lias been the period of relative 
prosperity, and the hbraries of the University now contain 75,000 bound volumes and about 
25,000 pamphlets. So much may show the growth of half a century. It will be noticed that 
over two-thirds of the volumes have come to the library during the past ten years. 

In early days, the library was quartered in South Hall. A report of the lilirarian in 
January, 1853, made a plea for additional cases in the library room. In 1800, the library was 
moved to a room prepared for it in the newly completed University Hall. Here it remained 
until 1880, when it took possession of the hbrary wing of the then new Library Hall. With a 
library of 9,000 volumes and barely 400 students in attendance, the University then thought 
that the new library Iniilding would be ample for the growth of at least half a century. Yet 
by 1890, the library had quite outgrown its quarters, and only by repeated increase of shelving 

(111) 



WISCONSIN' STATE IIISTOIUCAL LIBBAEY BUILDING 



in galleries and basement, and rearrangement of the reading room, was it possible for several 
years to accommodate either readers or books. Hence the completion of the new Library- 
Building and the removal of the University Hbrary to ample quarters therein, specially 
designed for the purpose, is more than welcome to all connected with the University. With 
a];)undance of room for readers and books, it is ho]:)ed that the near future may witness a 
large growth of the library in all directions, a growth commensurate with the spaciousness 
and convenience of the new home. 

The growth of tlie library in the past lias been chiefly through purchases. While many 
volumes have been constantly presented l)y individuals, societies, etc., there have been, until 

the last two years, few large gifts to the library. 
As a beciuest from 0. M. Conover, professor of 
ancient languages from 1852 to 1858, the library 
received in 1885 his private classical library, 
naml>cring ui)wards of five hundred volumes. 
In the same year, the German section of the 
lilirary was augmented by several hundred vol- 
umes purchased with funds presented by lib- 
eral German-Americans of the state. The Scan- 
dinavian section of the library numbers nearly 
a thousand volumes. The basis of this collec- 
tion is the private library of the late Ole Bull, 
liresented l>y him to the University. In 1893, 
Edward T. Owen, professor of French in the 
University, placed on deposit his fine private 
library of French language and literature, num- 
liering over nine hundred volumes. This use- 
ful collection has now been placed in the French 
seminary room in the new I aiilding, room 322. 
In 18!.)7, Howard Greene of Milwaukee, a 
graduate of the I'niversity with the class of 
1886, purchased the private librarj- of a de- 
ceased friend. Dr. Frank E. Zinkeisen, and pre- 
sented it to the University. This collection 
numbered considerably over a hundred vol- 
umes, and contained many valuable works in 
European and churcli ]list(.lrJ^ In .January, 
1899, the sum of $3,150 was presented by German-Americans of Milwaukee, to secure for the 
University a Germanic seminarj^ library. This lil)eral gift has been carefully expended to 
develop and supplement tlie German section of the lilirary, tlic number of additions from this 
source lieing 1,700 volumes. The well-known publisliing and b(.iokselling liouse of F. A. Brock- 
haus of Leipzig, from wJiom these l)Ooks were purchased, increased this collection by the free 
gift of 350 volumes of tlieir own publications. This new German library has found a home 
in the Germanic seminary room on the third floor of the new building. 

The college year of 1900-01 witnessed four noteworthy gifts to the University liltrary. 
A very valuable collection of rare books, relating to the history of social movements in England 
and the LTnited States, has been presented by eleven Wisconsin gentlemen. This collection 

(112) 




A STAIRWAY 

Leading: from third floor to niiiseuni Uopi floor. Three 

^■arieties of Ualian marble enter into its composition. 



THE UNIVEBSITY LIBBAIiY 

consists of books and periodicals which grew up out of the work of Robert Owen and his 
followers. The private classical library of the late Prof. H. A. Sober, numbering about two 
hundred volumes, has been purchased by friends of Mr. Sober, and presented to the Univer- 
sity library. The sum of $2,000 has recently been given to the University by Charles F. 
Pfister and Mr. and Mrs. Fred, ^''ogel of Milwaukee, for the purchase of l>ooks and periodicals 
for the new School of Commerce. It is expected that this generous gift, now being expended, 
will be supplemented by further gifts for the same purpose from other Milwaukee citizens. 

In the summer of 1900, William E. Dodge of New York City generously offered to con- 
tribute $500 for the purchase of books for the School of Economics and Political Science, on 
condition that an additional sum of $2,000 for the same purpose should be raised in Wisconsin. 
This condition has at length been met through liberal contributions from citizens of Mil- 
waukee and Madison, and the sum of $2,500 is now available for the purchase of books in the 
fields of economics and political science. This fund, as well as the Germanic seminary library 
fund of two years ago, was brought together largely througli the exertions of a l(iyal alunnius 
of the University, Dr. Arthur .J. Puis of Milwaukee. 

The nnmificent gifts of the i)ast few years lead to tlie hope that the future may see a 
continuance of such gifts in increased number. In no other way can alumni and other 
friends of the University so well show their loyalty and interest as by gifts, small as well as 
large, to the library of the University. Tiie art departments of both the Historical Society 
and the University libraries are lamentably small, and money cannot be spared from ordinary 
book funds for needed growth. So it is to be hoped that this section of the library may soon 
find its benefactor. Equally desiral_)le is a working collection of the best photographic 
reproductions of works of art, for the constant exhibition of which room can be spared in the 
new building. No equal expenditure of money could bring better returns to Wisconsin in an 
educative and cultural way. 

In the future, the Plistorical Society library, the Wisconsin Academy library, and the 
University library, all located in the new State Historical Library Building, will divide tlie 
field much more systematically than has been possible in the past. Up to this time, tlie 
University library has aimed to be uniformly developed in nearly all fields; however, special 
appropriations in recent years have rendered it especially strong in the lines of economic and 
political science, in European history, and in classical philology. Most of tlie important 
periodicals and society pubhcations in these fields are represented by complete sets. The 
library also possesses an excellent collection of engineering periodicals and society publications. 
About 125 such publications are currently received and placed on file in the engineering 
reading room in the new Engineering Building. The bound sets of these publications are 
kept in the stack in the periodical room in the State Historical Lilirary Building, where all 
have direct, free access. 

More than 600 periodicals are received at the University library. The catalogue is the 
usual dictionary card catalogue of authors, titles, and subjects in one alphabetic arrangement. 
The Cutter expansive system is used as a basis for shelf classification, but it is changed 
in many ways to suit special needs. Subject to certain restrictions, books may be drawn 
from the library liy all members of the University; to all others, it is free for reference. It is 
open thirteen and a half hours daily during the academic year, except on Sundays, legal holi- 
days, and Saturdays (when the building is closed at 4 p. m. for cleaning) . 

In addition to the general library, the University possesses three special branch libraries. 
The Woodman astronomical library, located in the Washburn Astronomical Observatory, is a 
XV • (113) 



WISCONSIN STATE HISTORICAL LIBEAHY BUILDING 

valual)le working collection of books, periodicals, and reports in tlio fields of mathematics, physics, 
and astronom}% now numbering about 2,500 bound volumes and as many more pamphlets. The 
library in the Law Building, of 4,000 volumes, is a working collection of text-books and 
reports; students also make large use of the State Law Library in the capitol, now numbering 
about 35,000 volumes. The library in Agricultural Hall contains over 5,000 volumes in the 
fields of agriculture and related subjects. This is supplemented by a reading room in which 
125 of the leading agricultural papers of the world are currently received and placed on file. 

l\\ connection with several of the scientific departments, are kept working collections of 
reference l)Ooks. Among the larger collections of this character, are those of the School of 
Pharmacy, and the departments of botany, chemistry, and zoology. Tlie pharmacy library 
is especially rich in l)Ound files of periodicals; tlie greater part of these are the property of 
Dr. Edward Kremers, the director of the school, and are placed on deposit by liini for the 
benefit of the University. 




A BULLKTIX liOAKI) 
upon first floor corridor. 



(114) 



THE ACADEMY LIBEABY 



THE LIBRARY OF THE WISCONSIN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, ARTS, AND 

LETTERS 



BY WILLIAM HERBERT HOBBS, PH.D. 



HE Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters is an association of scientific 
worlvers organized under state laws, with liberal state encouragement. Its members 
are largely drawn from the faculties of the University of Wisconsin, of Beloit and 
Ripon Colleges, and Lawrence University, Appleton; with principals and teachers 
and other literary, scientific, and professional men. Investigations of a scientific character 
undertaken by members of the Academy may be i)ublislied by the state in the form of Trans- 
actions of the Academy, which now comprise thirteen vi)lumes aggregating over 5,500 pages. 
These Transactions are sent to scientific and tci'lmical societies throughout the world, and 
over five hundred of these Itodies now send their jiublications to the Academy in exchange. 
In this manner a most valuable lilirary of about 5,00(J volumes lias Ijeen lirought together. 

This collection of scientific works supplements in a noteworthy manner the libraries of the 
State Historical Society and the State University, for the reason that the publications of many 
of the so-called "learned societies" ai'e not received at either of the larger institutions. 

The real use of the books in the library of the Wisconsin Academy has heretofore been 
very limited, because no suitable place has been provided at which they could be made access- 
ible to readers. They are now, however, assigned to a special part of the great book-stack in 
the new State Historical Library Building, and ai'c snon fn lie i)rovided with a card catalogue 
and thus made available to those who ajjply at citlier of the two delivery desks in the great 
reading room. 

It is not, however, so much the jiresent value of the lilirary, as its future possibilities, 
wbicli lays claim uixin our attention. (_)f the 509 exchanges of the Academy which are now 
rcgulai'ly rccciviMl, 170 were secured tlirough applications by tlie librarian in the years 1890-93, 
and anotlier ill' cxclianges through tlie similar efforts of tlii" bbrarian who served from 1896-99. 
These are mentioned as indications that there are other societies who would be glad to make 
exchange of their publications with those of the Academy, if the matter were properly lirought 
to tlieir attention. The opportunities for enlarging the list of exchanges is in fact now better 
than ever before, inasmuch as arrangements are being perfected by which other Wisconsin 
state institutions will cooperate with the Academy, so as to secure exchanges with many of 
the larger scientific bodies whose publications are much more voluminous and more expensive 
than those of the Academy alone. The several series of Bulletins of the University, the 
Bulletins of the Geological and Natural Llistory Survey of Wisconsin, and the Publications of 
the Washliurn Observatory, may, under such an arrangement, be sent to a single society in 

(115) 



WISCONSIN STATE HISTORICAL LlBliABY BUILDING 

return for its publications, provided that tliej^ are regarded as of sufficient value to constitute 
an equivalent. Publications secured in this way will be apportioned to the several libraries 
according to the field which they aim to cover. The State Historical Society, wliicli issues 
Collections, Proceedings, Bulletins, etc., conducts, on its own account, a widely-spread exchange 
of publications with libraries and historical and antiquarian societies and museums throughout 
this country and Europe. Dwelling under a common roof, these several libraries will here- 
after be spared the necessity of duplication of volumes; the work of acknowledgment, catalog- 
ing, and care may be reduced to a minimum; and the reader will be benefited by having all the 
available books in the vicinity accessible by application at the delivery counters. The aim of 
the Wisconsin Academy will ]>v ti.i l)uild up as complete a collection as possible of the publica- 
tions of the scientific and technical societies throughout the civilized world. 




A WINDOW 
Showing stone carving. 



(116) 




f-' £ 



w = 



as 

W « 

< o 

W .? 



OPINIONS OF DISTINGUISHED LIBRABIANS 



WHAT DISTINGUISHED LIBRARIANS THINK OF THE BUILDING 



THE twenty-third general conference of the American Library Association was held 
at Waukesha, July 3-10, 1901. One of the features of the conference was a visit to 
Madison upon Monday, July 8th, for the purpose of inspecting the new Wisconsin 
State Historical Library Building. After the close of the conference, when the visit- 
ing librarians had returned to their homes, and had had time in which to reflect upon their 
impressions, the Editor requested a few of the most distinguished and representative mem- 
bers of the profession, who had themselves given much study to library architecture, to send 
to him, in brief phrase, their candid opinions of the building, regarded wholly from the practical 
librarian's point of view. The following responses were received; they are the more remark- 
able in that several of the writers themselves administer beautiful and worthy structures, and 
all are accustomed to taking a judicial attitude relative to professional matters, uninfluenced by 
a mere desire to please. 

From Mr. Henry J. Carr, librarian of Scranton (Pa.) Public Library, and President of 
the American Library Association — "A recent inspection of the new building of the Wiscon- 
sin State Historical Society adds to and confirms the satisfactory impressions derived from a 
prior visit made before the structure was entirely ready for use. I have been also quite con- 
versant with the outline plans and requirements of its construction, whose carrying out has 
led to such effective results. Its beauty, its rich simplicity in the details of ornamentation, 
and more than all its eminent suitability to the joint occupancy for which it was planned and 
now affords such happy convenience, all deserve the highest words of praise and commenda- 
tion." 

From Dr. Herbert Putnam, Librarian of Congress, and ex-President of the Associa- 
tion — " The resolutions passed by the Association at the conclusion of the Waukesha confer- 
ence, referred to your new building as a ' notable ' recent achievement in library architecture. 
The Association, as you are aware, has to avoid terms which may involve a critical estimate 
and eulogium of either architecture or administration, in library matters, except, of course, it 
be some matter solemnly adjudicated by the council. The word ' notable ' must, however, 
have been felt by all of us to be unduly temperate. Your building seemed to us beautiful in 
its proportions and in its simplicity of detail; dignified; and efficient to its purposes to a degree 
rarely exhibited in any building for lil)rary uses. Without invidiousness we cannot compare. 
But the general feeling was, I am sure, very heartily that the state of Wisconsin has not 
merely benefited itself, but has done a general public service in accomplishing this edifice. 
Our hope and cordial expectation is, that the state will enable the institutions which are to in- 
habit it to pursue liberally the objects of which it is a suggestion and promise." 

(117) 



OPINIONS OF DISTINGUISHEn LIimABIANS 

From lion. Mclvil Dewey, Director of New York State Library, and ex-President of the 
Association — "It was common comment tliat tlie American Library Association in its meetings 
and post coni'orcnce excursions, wliich iu Ibt' i)ast twenty-live years have extended from Quebec 
to New Orleans and from Halifax tu San Francisco, liad never visited a hbrary building on 
wliicli tliore was so little criticism compared with the generous commendation given to the 
new library of the State Historical Society. Dignity, beauty, and practical convenience are 
combined in a rare degree in the great l_)uilding of which ^^'isconsin is justly proud." 

From ^Ir. R. R. Howker, Editor of The Library Journal, New York City — " Li sending 
personal thanks, through you, to all our Wisconsin hosts who made the visit of the American 
Library Association at once so delightful and so instructive, let me congratulate you especially 
on the provision which Wisconsin has made, so fittingly and so admirably, for the libraries of 
the State Historical Society and the University of AVisconsin. The Badger state seems to be 
making itself the banner state in the service of the people in at least two directions: the dairy 
and agricultural development, for which the University of Wisconsin is doing so mm-h, and 
the furnishing of food for the mind as well as for the body, in the traveling libraries and other 
library facilities, through the Wisconsin Free Library Commission and the generallibrary system 
of which your new building and the library at Milwaukee are visible monuments. It is almost 
impossible to estimate the contril.)ution to the wealth of the state, and indeed of the wliole 
West and the country at large, which comes from fimling a kind of Ijarley which in your soils 
will devt'lop lifty jK-r cent more jiroduct witli the ssime cultivation, or in freeing the dairy 
intei'ests from the dread of tuberculosis and enabling the farmers to produce a milk, butter, 
and cheese crop of better quality and higher price, as Professors Henry, Babcock, and their 
associates are doing; and in the morning which L with others of your visitors, spent in going 
over their work, it impressed me that they were accomplishing indirectly a still greater result 
in turning back the human current from the ovcrcrow<lcd cities again upon the farms, by 
making farming a calling in which l)rains and ' book-kno\vledge ' can ])e utilized quite as 
effectively as in the occupations of the city. It isjicculiarly tittingthat thcaddilional wealth wliicli 
the brains of such men are developing for tlie state should l)u returned in kind l)y the liberal suj)- 
portof hbraries, both in the great collections of which your own is so noble an example, and in the 
traveling libraries, which arc reaching out into all tlie farming hamlets with tlieir quickening 
influence. To my nn'nd, your new library building is notable as the jihysical evidence (.)f this 
broad and liberal spirit on the part of the jieople of Wisconsin; and what especially struck me, as 
one somewhat experienced in building, is that you should have obtained such value, dollar for 
dohar, as you have in a building of such magnificence and beauty, at a cost, approximately, 
of $600,000. I think we all agreed that the library building is one of the most lieautiful and 
fitting in the country; and it will certainly l)e a monument for many generations of the wisdom 
and foresight of the people of Wisconsin in recognizing that brains, in their development 
through books and university training, are one of the largest sources of enlightened and 
beneficent wealtli." 

From Prof. W. L Fletcher, Lilirarian of Andierst College, Editor of Poole's Index lo 
Periodical Literature, and ex-President of the Association — " I wish to exju-ess to you my high 
appreciation of your new library building. I liave not seen another Avhich combines rare 
beauty of design and finish with more features of practical excellence and usefulness. The 
main reading room is equal to any similar room tliat I have seen, and every part of the 
building is admirably adapted to its uses. Your state is certainly t(.) be congratulated on 
having, in this case, got its ' money's wortli.' " 

(119) 



WISCONSIN STATE IIISTOIilCAL LIBRARY BUILDING 

From jMr. John Cotton Dana, Librarian of the Springfield (Mass.) City Library, and 
ex-President of tlie Association — "Li tire present transition period of library management, 
it is most difficult for one to dogmatize over either the general principles or the details of 
library construction. Still more difficult is it to criticise or to appreciate a building designed 
to meet the peculiar needs of two great institutions like your Historical Society and State 
University. But there are some things which must at once impress any student of library 
construction who may look over even hastily your beautiful building. Without, it has the 
dignity and simplicity its purpose and its setting demand. Within, it is impressive, and 
yet is rather cheering than overpowering in its general aspect. As to its utility, the easy cir- 
cuit from the reference room through the stack and administration rooms to the reference 
hall again, quickly made, with easy access up and down and to the right and left to the things 
and places wanted — this appeals to the practical librarian's heart, and is typical of the manner 
in which the whole building is, in a liigher degree I believe than any library I have ever seen, 
adapted to the daily needs of those who use it." 

From IMr. Henry ^L lUley, Librarian of Detroit Public Library, and ex-President of the 
Association — "Your Madison building has certainly a very pleasing exterior. There is a 
dignity and grace in its outline and general effect, quite in keeping with the purpose of the 
Iniilding. The general reading room is the most attractive room of the kind I have ever seen. 
I do not believe it has its equal. So far as I am able to judge from the brief examination 
given, the arrangement of the several departments of the library appears to me to be very con- 
venient and admirable. You and your associates are to be congratulated upon the possession 
of such a fine workshop." 

From Prof. Frederick M. Crunden, Librarian of St. Louis Public Library, and ex-Presi- 
dent of tlie Association — "I derived great pleasure and profit from the two or three hours 
spent in your new library. It is certainly one of the finest library buildings in the country. I 
do not see how any change could enhance the pleasing effect produced l)y the simple dignity 
of its fayade, while the interior arrangement is admirably adapted to the i)urposes for which 
the building is designed. The ingenuity of the plan is made more noteworthy by the com- 
plexity of the problem presented, in providing for two distinct institutions. Having heard 
beforehand the cost of the building, I was not prepared for so imposing a structure. I con- 
gratulate you on the good arrangement which, combined with your good luck in building at 
the most favorable time, has secured for you a building wortli hundreds of thousands more 
than it cost." 

From Dr. Clement W. Andrews, Librarian of John Crerar Library, Chicago— " You ask 
me for an expression of my opinion in regard to the new building of the State Historical Society. 
Naturally the first and most striking impression was made by the beauty and dignity of the 
building and of its position; and these are well matched \>y the elegance and convenience of its 
appointments. It was to me more interesting, however, to find that this beauty of form had 
not been secured at any sacrifice of usefulness, and that the building seemed remarkably well 
planned for its intended use. The problem of combining the maximum efficiency of a library, 
open to the pubhc generally, the maximum service to the classes of an educational institution, 
and the best accommodation of individual scholars, is not a simple one. The solutions have 
been varied, but of them all I know of none which promises better results for expenditure than 
that employed in your building. I regard my visit to the lil^rary as one of the chief pleasures 
of a very pleasant day, and I consider it a privilege to be allowed to congratulate the people of 
Wisconsin on the possession of a monument worthy of the state; and the State Historical 

(120) 



OPINIONS OF mSTINGUISUKI) LIlUtAHlANS 

Society and the Stati? University on tlie prospects of tlie increased usefulness wliicli tlie 
building offers." 

From Mr. Edwin H. Anderson, Lilirarian of Carnegie Library, Pittsburg— "I congratu- 
late you on your new library building. The arrangements, the furniture, and general equip- 
ment struck me most favorably. I was astonished to learn that the cost of the wliole was 
only $600,000. Wisconsin should be proud of this n(jl)le structure, so intelligently planned, 
and erected at such moderate cost." 




CARVED-STONK OVAL 
East loggia. 



(121) 



INDEX 



INDEX 



BY JAMES ALEXANDER ROBERTSON. 



AH. ANDREWS CO., contractors, xi. 
. Abolitionists, petition congress, 66. 

Adams, Charles Francis, Sr., member of congress, 
26; accompanies Seward, 26; in Madison, 26- 
27; extracts from diary of, 26-27, 50; promi- 
nence of, 2S; residence in England, 50. 

Adams, Hon. Charles Francis, Jr., LL. D., presi- 
dent of Massachusetts Historical Society, ad- 
dresses by, 6, 25-28, 37-64; portrait, 25; father 
of, accompanies Seward, 26; extracts from 
diary, 27; in Madison, 28; texts of, 37; head of 
oldest American historical society, 37; lectures 
before Mass. Historical Society, 38; descended 
from John Quincy Adams, 43; investigations 
of, concerning historical literature, 71-78. 

Adams, Charles Kendall, LL. D., president of Uni- 
versity of Wisconsin, member of Board of 
BuildingCommissioners,x; address by, 6, 18-20. 

Adams, John Quincy, exponent of political evolu- 
tion, 43; combines ideas of Garrison and Web- 
ster, 43-44; Charles Francis Adams descended 
from, 43; answers theories of Jefferson and 
Calhoun, 44; policy, 44; breaks with party, 44; 
resigns from senate, 44; member of Monroe's 
cabinet, 44; associated with Calhoun, 44; pi'esi- 
dent of United States, 44; opposes Calhoun, 
44-45; death (1848), 45; buried at Quincy, 
Mass., 45; funeral sermon of, 45; disciples of, 
found new party, 46; in congress, 66; writes to 
constituent, 66; letter,' speeches, and diary 
cited, 66-67, 69-70; champion of abolitionists, 
66; speeches by, 66-67; enunciates theories of 
government, 66-67, 69-70; predicts civil war, 
67, 69-70; effect of speeches, 67, 70; assailed 
by Wise and Marshall, 67, 69; answers oppo- 
nents, 67, 69-70. 

Adams, Mary M. (.Mrs. Charles Kendall), hymn by, 
3, 6. 

Africans, inferior class, 40. See also Slavery. 



Agricultural Hall, branch of University library in, 
114. 

Agriculture, College of, 16; state aid in. 16; in 
northwest, 61; books and papers on, in Univer- 
sity library, 114; in Wisconsin, 119; discover- 
ies in, 119. 

Alabama, Indian hostilities in, 66. 

Alexandria, Africa, library at, 18. 

America, oldest historical society in, 25, 37; great 
men of, 31; study of expansion and building of, 
35; discovery of, 39, 40; slavery a race ques- 
tion in, 40; experiment of government in, 47; 
firmness a characteristic in, 47; the West, in 
development of, 49; faults of writers of, 49-51; 
has no first-class historian, 55; historians of, 
criticised, 55-57; need of popular historian in, 
63; history written by naval ofiicer of, 63; hazy 
notions of, in early times, 65; patriotism in, 
74; printers in, 82; fur trade in, 107. 

American Antiquarian Society, report to, 65-66. 

American Ethnological Society, transactions. 100. 

American Historical Association, chairman of com- 
mittee of, 6. 

American Library Association, twenty-third con- 
ference of, 117; officers of, 117, 119; resolutions 
passed by, 117; other conferences of, 119. 

Americana, collectors of, 101-102. 

Amherst College, librarian of, 119. 

Anderson, Edwin H., comments on building, 121. 

Andrews, Dr. Clement W., comments on building, 
120. 

Anglo-Saxons, migrations of, 37, 43; in Wisconsin, 49. 

Antietam, Md., battle at, 47. 

Appleton, Wis., Lawrence University at, 115. 

Archeology, collection in Historical library mu- 
seum, 23; Mommsen's work in, 57. 

Architecture, Greek in, 49; elements necessary for 
permanence in, 50; of new library building, 83, 
117-120. 



(125) 



WISCOX.SIX STATE HISTOHICAL LIBBAEY BUILDIXG 



[Ai'i— Cal 



Aristotle, searcli for tomb of, 35. 
Arkansas, admitted into Union, 66; constitution of, 
recognizes slavery, 66; Indian pottery from, 105. 
Arnold. Thomas. English teacher and historian, 53; 

criticised, oo. 
Art, influence of, 19-20; Greeks in, 49, 52; form 
necessary in, 50; Hebrews in, 51; Romans in, 
52; department of, in new library building, 91; 
gifts in, solicited, 113. 
Art Metal Construction Co., contractors, xii. 
Ashbee & Halliwell, edition of Shakespeare, lOS. 
Assyria, ancient libraries of, 29. 
Astronomy, books in Washburn Observatory, 113; 

history allied to, 38. 
Athens, Greece, sacred hill in, 20; art in, 20; clas- 
sical school at, 35. 
Atherton gag, rule adopted in house of represen- 
tatives, 67. 
Atlases, in Tank Iil)rary, lOS. 



BABCOCK, Prof. Stephen Moulton, work of, 119. 
Bailey, Lieut.-Col. Joseph. presentation to, 107. 
Bancroft, George, American historian, 31, 55, 74, 
78; criticised, 55; not read entire, 73; propor- 
tion of readers. 74. 
Baptists, church sold by, 101. 
Barnes, Alfred Smith, American historian, 74. 
Barrow, Isaac, English theologian and mathema- 
tician, 59; sermons, 59. 
Bay Massachusetts, land grant on, 65. 
Bealbec, memorials on walls of, 30. 
Bedford, Ind., quarries at, S3. 
Beloit College, members of faculty of, belong to 

Wisconsin Academy, 115. 
Bentley, Thomas R., contractor, xi. 
Bibles, in commerce, 34; importance of, in former 
generations, 59; King James's version, 59; 
largely superseded by periodicals and Sunday 
newspaper, 59, 74; in Tank library, IDS. 
Bismarck, Prince Otto, Eduard Leopold, Prussian 

statesman, 44. 
Bolingbroke, Henry Saint John, defines history, 34. 
Bolivar, Gen. Simon, abolishes slavery in Colombia, 

69. 
Boston, Mass., public library at, 13, 31; church at, 
38; early settlement at, 43; commemorative 
services at, 50; standard historical works in, 
71. 
Botany, books on, 114. 

Botkin, Alexander, member of Society's executive 
committee, 99. 



Bowker, R. R., comments on building, 119. 
Boydell, edition of Shakespeare, 108. 
Bradley, Isaac S., secretary of Board of Building 
Commissioners, x; assistant librarian and li- 
brarian of Society, 100-101. 
Breitwisch & Wunderlich, contractors, xii. 
Britt, Chauncey C, newspaper editor, 95; favors 

and urges formation of Society, 95. 
Brockhaus, F. A., German publisher, 112; books 
purchased from, 112; gift from, to University 
library, 112. 
Brown, Beriah, member of Society's executive com- 
mittee, 99. 
Brunson, Alfred, address by, 97. 
Bryan, William Jennings, diffuseness of, 50; speech 

and letter of, 50. 
Bryant, William Cullen, American poet, 31. 
Bryce, James, speaks before Western legislature, 

35; American Commonicealth, 35, 7S. 
Buckle, Henry Thomas, English historian, 53; crit- 
icised, 53, 63. 
Buffalo, N. Y., political conference at, 46; in for- 
mer Massachusetts territorj^ 65. 
Building Commission, m.embers and officers of, x; 
president of board of, 6, 13; congratulated, 15, 
17, 20; work of, 81; loans made to, 103. 
Bull, Ole, gift from, to University library, 112. 
Bull, Prof. Storm, consulting engineer, x. 
Burnett, Judge Thomas P., prominent Wisconsin 

jurist, 96; vice-president of Society, 96. 
Burroughs, Stephen, refugee, 59; village school- 
master, 59; aids in founding library, 59-60. 
Burrows, George B., on Board of Building Com- 
missioners, x; speaker of Wisconsin assembly, 
20; thanks extended to, 20. 
Bury, J. B., cited, 54. 

Butler, Prof. James Davie, LL. D., connection with 
Society, 7; invocation by, 6-8; portrait, 7; 
professor in State University (1860), 27. 

CABOTS, John and Sebastian, English explorers. 
Go. 

Cadillac. Antoine de la Mothe. founder of Detroit, 33. 

Cffsar (Cesar), Julius, Roman statesman, soldier, 
and historian, 52, 58; compared to Moses, 70; 
commentaries {De Bello Gallico) , 70. 

Calhoun, Thomas C, enunciates doctrine of nullifi- 
cation, 41, 44; influence of, in South, 43; an- 
swered by J. Q. Adams, 44; in Monroe's cabi- 
net. 44; vice-president, 44; opposed to Adams, 
44-45; leader in South Carolina, 44; leads re- 
actionary movement, 45. 



(12G) 



Cam— Die! 



INDEX 



Cambridge, Eng., King's College in, 20. 

Cambridge, Mass.. pnblic library at, 31. 

Canada, material on history of, in Historical li- 
brary, 109. 

Canals, in modern times, 11. 

Capitol bnilding, Madison, mentioned, 10.5, 107; 
meetings of Society lield in, 7; enlarged, 7, 102; 
Free Library Commission in, S5; State library 
in, 96; Society secures rooms in, 102; quarters 
in, outgrown, 102; law library in, 114. 

Carlyle, Thomas, Scottish historian and writer, 52, 
53; eulogizes Frederick the Great, 40; reac- 
tion against, 51, 61; criticised, 53; demand for 
works of, 61, 71; American editions of, 61, 71; 
readers of, and how read, 73-74, 77; cited, 74; 
French Revolution, 74, 75; Frederick the 
Great, 74, 75. 

Carnegie, Andrew, founder of libraries, 29. 

Carnegie Steel Co., subcontractors, xi. 

Carr. Henry J., comments on building, 117. 

Cartier, Jacques, French navigator, 38. 

Cass, Lewis, democratic candidate for presidency, 
45-46; holds southern principles, 45; attitude 
in War of Secession, 45. 

Catholics, Irish, their respect for Seward, 26. 

Catlin, John, member of executive committee of 
Society, 99. 

Cavour, Camillo Bensodi. Italian statesman, 44. 

Caxton, William, early English printer, mark of, 
82. 

Challouer, Frank, member of Board of Building 
Commissioners, x. 

Chamberlin, Thomas C, president State Univer- 
sity, suggestion made by, 103. 

Channing, Prof. Edward, Guide, 75. 

Charles I., of England, grants charter, 65. 

Charles V., king of Spain, and emperor of Holy 
Roman Empire, 40. 

Charles B. Kruse Heating Co., subcontractors, xi. 

Chemistry, department of, in University library, 
114. 

Chicago, 111., library in, 13, 120; presidential con- 
vention at, 26. 

Chicago Lumber Co., subcontractors, xi. 

Chickamauga, Tenn., battle of, 47. 

Choate, Rufus, American lawyer and orator, 31. 

Cicero, compared to Demosthenes. 52. 

Clark. Orlando E., member of Board of Building 
Commissioners, x. 

Clas, Alfred C, architect, x, 83; portrait, 83. 

Classics, history, reading of, 77; in Tank library, 
lOS. 



Claude Lorraine (Claude Gelce), Italian painter, 
51. 

Clay, Henry, leader of wiiig party, 45; superseded, 
45. 

Colleges, in Wisconsin, 11; ueed of elevating work 
in, 34; not becoming technical schools, 34; pre- 
pare for citizenship, 34-35; reading of history 
in, 75-78; excesses in, 77; need libraries. 111; 
need instructors. 111. 

Colombia, S. A., slavery abolished in, 69. 

Columbia University Lll)rary, cost of construction, 
13. 

Columbus, Christopher, period of, coincident with 
that of Luther, 39; discovers America, 40; Irv- 
ing's life of, 55. 

Commerce, in Wisconsin, 9; studied in universi- 
ties, 34; school of, in University of Wisconsin, 
113. 

Confederacy, desired, 41; failure of, 43; flags of, in 
museum, 107. See also War of Secession. 

Connecticut Historical Society, founded, 26. 

Conover, 0. M., bequest from, to University library, 
112. 

Consolidated Stone Co., subcontractors, xi. 

Cook, Deacon , list of books by, 60. 

Corinth, Miss., battle of, 47. 

Cotton, John, Puritan minister in Boston, 25. 

Cotton, monopoly of, in South, 43. 

Crawford, Rev. Andrew J., Jackson writes to, 41. 

Criminals, care of, in Wisconsin, 16. 

Crunden, Prof. Frederick M., comments on build- 
ing, 120. 

Crawford, Samuel, address by, 97. 



D-VNA, John Cotton, comments on building, 120. 
Dante, degli Alighieri, inspired by Moses, 
71. 

Darien, Isthmus of, narrowness of, 65. 

Darwin, Charles, English naturalist, 35, 43. 49, 54, 
55; C. F, Adams chooses text from, 37; cited, 
37; promulgates theory, 38; value of work of, 
as regards history, 52, 55; Descent of Man, 37, 
38; Origin of Species, 38. 

Democracy, Cass's candidacy, 45; Jacksouian, 45. 

Demosthenes, Cicero compared to, 52. 

De Pere. Wis., Jesuit mission at, 107. 

Detroit, Mich., founder of, 33; in former Massachu- 
setts territory, 65; library at, 120. 

Dewey, Hon. Melvil, comments on building, 119. 

Dev/ey, Gov. Nelson, president of Society, 99. 

Dickens, Charles, English novelist, 54. 



(1137) 



WISCONSIN STATE IIISTOBICAL LIBBABY BUILDING 



[Dis-Fi-e 



District of Columbia, slave trade in, 66. 

Dodge, William E.. gift from, to University library, 
113. 

Doty, Gov. James Duane. helps organize Society, 
96; vice-president of. 96; first orator of, 96. 

Draper, Dr. Lyman Copeland, father of Society, 
10; collector of Americana, 10, 101-102; por- 
trait, 21; first secretary of Society, 21. 3S, 101; 
lays lasting foundations of Society, 21 ; proves 
usefulness of Society, 21; disposition and tem- 
perament, 21-22, 28, 101; nurtures Society dur- 
ing critical period, 22; asks for appropriation, 
22; organization formed by, 26; C. F. Adams 
pays tribute to, 28; new library building, a 
monument to. 28, 102; arrives in Madison, 101; 
elected member of Society, 101; results ot 
"work, 101-102; advocates new building, 102; 
assistant and successor of, 102; resignation of, 
102; literary plans, 102; ill-health, 102; death, 
102; editor of Wisconsin Historical Collections, 
102; letter cited. 104; MS. collections in So- 
ciety's library, 108. 

Dudley, Joseph, governor of Massachusetts colony, 
26. 

Durkee, Charles, first anti-slavery congressman 
from Northwest, 46. 

Durrie, Daniel Steele, bookseller. 101; first libra- 
rian of Society, 101; death, 101; sketch, 101; 
portrait, 101. 

Duruy, Victor, French historian, works cited, 77. 

Dutch, books in Tank library, 108. 

Dux. Joseph, contractor, xi. 

ECONOMICS, department of, in State Univer- 
sity. S6, 113; material for study of. in His- 
torical library. 107; fund for purchase of 
books on. 113. 

Education, high standard of. in Wisconsin. 10; in 
frontier states, IS: museum and library ad- 
vance. 23: work of Society advances, 23; value 
of history in, 34; increased opportunities for, 
60; fads in. 74; methods of study in educa- 
tional institutions, 75; literary form in mod- 
ern. 78. 

Egypt, libraries of, 29; inhabitants of, 29; exodus 
from, 70. 

Ehlman. A. C, member of University quartette, G. 

Elizabeth, queen of England, 40. 

Elzivirs. Amsterdam printers, mark of, 82. 

Emerson, Ralph Waldo, American poet and philos- 
opher, 31. 



Emigration, towards West, 35, 37; direction of 
northern, 43. 

Emerton. Prof. Ephraim, American historian, 77; 
Introduction to Middle Ages, 77. 

Empire Fire-proofing Co., subcontractors, xi. 

Endicott, John, governor of Massachusetts colony, 
26. 

England, queen of, 28; C. F. Adams, Sr., in, 50; 
Macaulay writes story of, 63; slight knowledge 
of history of, 74; printing introduced into, 82; 
books on social movement in, in University li- 
brary, 112. 

English, historians, 52-54; literature in former 
generations, 59; war feared, 66; seminary room 
in library building, 91; fur trade, 107; geneal- 
ogy, material on, in Historical library, 108. 

Ethnology, department of American, in new library 
building, 92, 110, 118; material for study of, in 
museum, 105. 

Europe, people from, in Wisconsin, 10; students in, 
11, 35; emigration from, to United States, 37. 

Everett. Edward, American orator, 31. 



FAIRCHILD, Gen. Lucius, member of Board of 
Building Commissioners, x; death, x; thanks 
given to, 20. 

Federalists, defeated by state rights, 41; disor- 
ganized, 41. 

Ferry, George B., architect, x, S3; portrait, S3. 

Fiction, works of, in public libraries, 59; read by 
students, 75. 

Fiske. John, American historian, 64, 78; criticised, 
64, 73, 75; investigations on reading of, 71, 73- 
75; style, 73. 

Flanders, wars in. 67. 

Fletcher, Prof. W. 1., comments on liuilding, 119; 
Poole's Index, 89, 119. 

Fond du Lac county, Wis., old colony line cuts, 66. 

Forests, in Wisconsin, 9. 

France, struggle for nationality in, 41; war with, 
feared. 67. 

Francis I., king of France, 40. 

Fraser, Frank, member of Board of Building Com- 
missioners, X. 

Frederick the Great, king of Prussia, 40. 

Freeman, Edward Augustus, English historian, 39, 
53; criticised, 53. 

Frellon, Jehan, Lyons printer, mark of, S2. 

Fremont, Maj.-Gen. John C, issues proclamation, 
70. 



(]3S) 



Fit- nil] 



INDEX 



French, iu West, 33; historians criticised, 52; Rev- 
olution in, lectures on, 77; seminary room, 
91; fvir trade, 107. 

Froude, James Anthony, English historian, 39, 53; 
criticised, 53, 63; Motley compared to, 55. 

Fugitive slave law, declared null and void, 46. 

Fur trade, relies of, in museum. 107; nationali- 
ties engaged in, 107. 



GALES. Joseph, government official, (i7. 
Gamm, William J., contractor, xii. 
Garrison. William Lloyd, represents moral issue, 
43-45; work reactionary, 43-44; does not ap- 
peal to patriotism, 43; influence of, 44. 
Genealogy, department of, 91; material on, in His- 
torical library, lOS. 

General Electric Co., contractors, xii. 

Geography, material on, in Historical library, 107. 

George H. Wheelcock & Co., contractors, xi. 

Georgia, Sherman's march through, 47; represen- 
tative from, in legislature, 66; Indian hostil- 
ities in. 66. 

German, students and professors of universities, 
35; seminary room, 91. 

German Americans, gift to University library, 112. 

Germans, found University of Strassburg, 18; his- 
torical writings of, criticised, 52, 57-58. 

Germany, nationality in, 41, 44. 

Gettysburg, Pa., battle of, 47. 

Gibbon. Edward, English historian, works of, last- 
ing, 51; historical elements in, 52; criticised, 
52, 57, 63; precedes Darwin, 52, 54; compared 
to Thucydides and Tacitus, 52; result of inves- 
tigations on modern reading of, 60-61, 71, 73- 
78; partisan, 75; Bury's edition of, 54; mem- 
oirs of, 60; Decline and Fall 60, 71, 73, 75, 77. 

Giddings, Joshua R., represents Ohio, 09; resolu- 
tions by, 69. 

Gimbel Bros., contractors, xi. 

Goldsmith, Oliver, Irish writer, 51. 

Grady, James S., subcontractor, xii. 

Grant, Francis W., work on building, x. 

Grant, Ulysses S., at Vicksburg, 47; letter accept- 
ing nomination, 50. 

Grant Marble Co., subcontractors, xi. 

Great Britain, slavery abolished in, 40; struggle 
for nationality in, 41; staying power in, 47; 
historians of, 52-54; theories regarding limits 
of colonies of, 65; war with, threatened, 67. 
See also England and English. 



Greek, culture, 37; history of equal importance to, 
33; literature, 52; seminary room, 91. 

Greeks, love of beauty, 20; artistic instinct of, 
49, 51-52; in Italy, 57. 

Green, John Richard, English historian, 53; criti- 
cised, 53, 63; result of investigations on read- 
ing of, 71, 73, 75, 77. 

Green, Samuel A., authority on Massachusetts his- 
tory, 05. 

Green Bay, Wis., mission at, 38; resident of, 90; 
relics from, 107. 

Green Lake county. Wis., old colony line in, 66. 

Greene, Howard, gift of, to University library, 112. 

Grote, George, historian, 53; criticised, 53; Vvfhy 
not read, 74. 

Guilland. , L'Allcm.agne Noiii'elle et ses his- 

toriens. 57-58. 

Guizot, Frangois Pierre Guillaume, French histo- 
rian and statesman, Lowell's answer to, 61. 



HALIFAX, N. S., library conference at, 119. 
Hallam, Henry, English historian and crit- 
ic, 53; criticised, 53; result of investiga- 
tions on reading of, 73, 77. 

Halliwell-Phillips, edition of Shakespeare, 108. 

Halsey, W. H., subcontractor, xi. 

Hanks, Lucien S., member of Board of Building 
Commissioners, x. 

Harrison, Frederic. English critic, 60. 

Hart, Prof. Albert Bushnell, American historian, 
Guide, 75. 

Hartford, Conn., convention at (1814-15), 41. 

Harvard University, students graduated in, 60; stu- 
dents of, consulted, 77-78. 

Haverhill petition, debate on, 67. 

Hawthorne, Nathaniel, possesses literary form, 50. 

Hayne, Robert Young, Webster's reply to, 50. 

Hebrews, prophet of, 11; literature of, 51; pre-emi- 
nent in music and poetry, 51; chronologically 
precede Greeks in literature, 52; early cam- 
paigns of, 70; influence of Moses on. 71; char- 
acterized, 71; influence of theology on modern 
thought, 71. 

Henry VIII.. of England, pope sends manuscript 
to, 30; defender of faith, 30, 40. 

Henry, Prof. William Arnon, work of, in agricul- 
ture, 119. 

Higginsou, Thomas Wentworth, American author, 
74. 

Hildreth, Richard, American historian, 55, 74; crit- 
icised, 55. 



(129) 



WISCONSIN STATU IIISTOIUCAL LIBliABY BUILDING 



[His-J.im 



Historians, six great American, 31; dividing line 
between old and new school of, 38; and his- 
torical societies, 3S; function of, 39; must ad- 
just theme, 39; field of, 39; need not he exclu- 
sively students and scholars, 51; elements nec- 
essary to ideal, 51, 63; review of, 51-57; in 
modern times, 52-57; Greek, possess literary 
form, 52; English, 52-54; American, 55-57; 
must be in harmony with environment, 58; 
of future, 63; la American navy, changes pol- 
icy of nations, 63; popular, needed in America, 
63; Moses as, 71; investigations on reading of, 
71-7S; use newspaper flies, lOS. 

Historical societies, greetings from, 6, 25-2S; oldest 
in America, 25; number in America, 26; mis- 
sion of, 26; represented at dedication, 28. See 
o/so Massachusetts and Wisconsin Historical 
Societies. 

History, professors and instructors in, 6, 33, 51, 
78; collection and preservation of material on, 
in Wisconsin, 10, 33, 101-102, 105, 107; three- 
fold progress recorded by, 10; defined, 10-11, 
3-1, 38, 61; importance and value of study of, 
10-11, 33-35, 63; new library an aid to study 
of, 22; not mere antiquarianism, 23; living 
study, 23; teaching of, 33-36; of Wisconsin and 
Michigan have much in common, 33; in north- 
west. 33; study of, on par with other studies, 
33: new method of teaching, 33-35, 73-77; dis- 
ciplinary and social study, 34; field of, 34; 
study of. prepares for citizenship, 34-35; 
teaches reverence for truth, 35; methods of 
study of, scientific, 35, 38; American, where 
studied to best advantage, 35; modern concep- 
tion of. 38; Darwin's work makes a unified 
whole. 3S-39; still undergoing evolution, 38; 
much of little value, 39; Columbus and Luther 
mark new epoch in, 39; issues in ancient and 
mediaeval, 39-40; issues in modern, 40; works 
on, and writers of, criticised, 49, 51-57, 63; in- 
stinct of Greeks in writing, 49; elements nec- 
essary in written, 50-51; derived from Shake- 
speare. 51; how expressed by Hebrew, 51; mon- 
ographs on, 54-55, 57; no first-class American, 
55; popularization of, needed, 58; mistakes in 
teaching. 58; modern taste in, 58-59; reaction- 
ary influence in, 63, 75; dignity of, 63; inves- 
tigation in reading of, 71-78; in newspapers, 
73; slight knowledge of American, 74; how 
taught formerly, 74, 77; study of, encouraged 
by Historical Society, 105; relics of, in mu- 
seum, 105, 107; works on, in Tank library, 108; 



works on American, in Historical liurary, 109; 

church. 112; European, 112-113. 
Hoar, Senator George F., library dedication ad- 
dress. 30-31. 
Hobbs. William Herbert, Ph. D., article by, 79, 115- 

116. 
Hodges, Deacon , recommends list of books, 

60. 
Hoffman & Bauer, subcontractors, xi. 
Hehenstsin & Jamieson, subcontractors. 
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, American poet, 31. 
Homer, Greek poet, 49, 52; transmission of poems 

of. 70; Moses superior to, as poet, 70-71. 
Horace. Roman poet, 52. 
Hosmer, Prof. James Kendall, LL. D., librarian of 

Minneapolis Public Library, 6. 29; address by, 

6, 29-31. 
Hyer, George, aids in organizing Society, 96. 



ILLINOIS (state), Seward in, 26; emigrations in- 
to, 43; in election of 1848, 46; bounds Wis- 
consin, 47. 

Ince, Jonathan, surveyor, 66. 

Indians, in Massachusetts, 37; in Wisconsin, 9; 
material for study of, 23, 108; hostilities in 
South, 66 ; war with, feared, 67. 

Ingersoll, C. J., represents Pennsylvania in con- 
gress, 67. 

Interior Woodwork Co., subcontractors, xi. 

Iowa (state), in election of 1848, 46; natural se- 
lection in, 63. 

Ireland, C. C, member of University quartette, 6. 

Irish Catholics, respect of, for Seward, 26. 

Iron Brigade, in War of Secession, 46-47. 

Irving. Washington, American historian, 31, 55; 
criticised, 55; undergraduate reads works of, 
78; Life of CoJumbus, 55; Life of Wasnington, 
55. 

Italy, nationality in, 41. 44; migrations of peo- 
ples in, 57. 



T S. FORD. JOHNSON & CO.. subcontractors, xi. 
J • Jackson. Gen. Andrew, letter of, 41; policy 
of democratic party named for, 45; fine 
imposed upon, 69. 
Jackson, Prof. Dugald C, consulting engineer, x. 
James L. of England, edition of Bible named for, 

59. 
Jamestown, Va., early settlemei-t at, 43. 



(130) 



Jef-Lou] 



Jefferson, Thomas, exponent of state sovereignty, 
41, 44; draws up Kentucky resolutions, 41; 
elected president, 41; policy of, 41; teachings 
of, followed in South, 43; author of Declara- 
tion of Independence, 67; attitude toward slav- 
ery, 67. 

Jesuits, mission of, at De Pere, Wis., 107. 

John Plantagenet, English king, 51. 

Johnson, Captain Edward, member of land commis- 
sion, Co. 

Johnson, Harry, general contractor, xi. 

Johnson, Dean J. B., consulting engineer, x. 

Johnson & Steevens, edition of Shakespeare, 108. 

Johnson Electric Service Co., subcontractors, xi. 

Johnston, Hon. John, president of Society, 5, 9; 
presides at dedicatory services, 5, 6; address 
by, 6, 9-11. 

Jolliet, Louis, French explorer, 33. 

Julius Andrae & Sons, subcontractors, xi, 

Juvenal, Roman poet, 52. 



KANSAS (state), Seward in. 26. 
Kansas City, Mo., cost of building in, 13. 

Kentucky (state), question of nationality in, 41; 
representative in congress from, 67. 

Kentucky resolutions, drawn up by Jefferson, 41. 

Kerwin, James C, member of Board of Building 
Commissioners, x. 

King & Walker, subcontractors, xi. 

Kolb, P. A., member of University quartette, 6, 

Kremers, Dr, Edward, director of School of Phar- 
macy, 114. 



LA FAYETTE county. Wis., early settler in, 95. 
Lake Mendota, seen from building, 81. 

Lake Michigan, district bordering on, 9, 45, 47; old 
colony line cuts, 66, 

Lake Superior, Wisconsin bounded by, 47. 

Lakes, settlements along Great, 43; about Madi- 
son, 27. 

Land grants, to University of Wisconsin, 27; to 
Massachusetts Company, 65. 

Lapham, Increase A., member of committee, 97; 
corresponding secretary of Society, 99. 

Larrabee, Judge Charles H., address by, 97; in- 
duces Draper to come to Wisconsin, 101. 

La Salle, Rene Robert Cavalier sieur de, French 
explorer, 33. 



Latin, study of history on par with, 33; seminary 

room, 91. 
Law, high standard of, in Wisconsin, 10; made by 
legislators, 35; principle of equality in, 39, 40; 
martial, 69; books on, 114. 

Lawrence University, members of faculty of, in 
Wisconsin Academy, 115. 

Leo X,, pope, presents MS. to Henry VIII., 30. 

Libraries, public, 6, 13, 29-31, 58-61, 71, 73, 117, 
119-120; what composes, 10; in Wisconsin, 
11, 31; defined, 18; necessary to University, 
IS; greetings from sister, 6, 29-31; jealousy 
of, 29; maintained through private munifi- 
cence, 22; instruments in education, 23, 58; 
Carnegie's. 29; in Orient, 29; advantages of an- 
cient, 29-30; sites of ancient, now deserts, 30; 
mediEeval, 30; Hoar gives address at dedication 
of, 30; modern, compared to those of past, 30; 
importance of, 30-31; many topics connected 
with, 49; modern circulating, 50; in new li- 
brary building, 81, 107, 113; private, in East 
and West, 107; law, 107, 114; state, 107, 114; 
the Tank, 108; growth of college. 111; astro- 
nomical, 113; traveling, 119; management of, 
in transition period, 120. See also University 
of Wisconsin Library, Wisconsin Academy of 
Sciences, Arts, and Letters, and Wisconsin. 
Historical Society Library. 

Library Bureau, subcontractors, xi. 

Library Hall, University library in. 111. 

Lincoln, Abraham, presidential canvass for, 26, 28; 
election of, ushers in War of Secession, 26; 
issues emancipation proclamation, 44; re-elect- 
ed, 46; great leader, 47; conciseness of, 50, 61; 
outlines duties of American citizens, 61, 63; 
revokes Fremont's proclamation, 70. 

Lincoln, Hon. Solomon, J. Q. Adams writes to, 66. 

Lingard, John, English historian, 53; criticised, 53; 
read in part, 73. 

Literature, historical, lacking in literary form, 49 
literary form in Greek, 49; in America, 49-50 
elements necessary for permanence in, 50, 51 
literary masters of last generation, 51; review 
of historical, 51-57; literary form defined, 54; 
taste in, restricted, 74; how studied, 78. 

Livy, Roman historian, 51-52. 

Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, American poet, 31, 
74. 

Lord, Rev. Charles, recording secretary of Society, 
99. 

Lotter, Melchior, Leipzig printer, mark of, 82. 

Louisiana (state), Jackson in, 69. 



(131) 



WISCONSIN STATE HISTOTtlCAL LIBBABY BUILDING 



[Low-Mil 



Lowell, James Russell, American poet, 31, 63; an- 
swer of, to Guizot, 61. 

Luther, Martin, nails theses on church door, 39; 
struggle inaugurated by, 40. 



MACVANE, Prof. Silas M., historical instructor 
at Harvard, 7S. 
McCarthy, Justin, English historian and statesman, 

73; History of Our Own Times, 73. 
McCarthy, T. C, superintendent of construction, 

x; contractor, xi. 
McGillis, J. W., member of University quartette, 6. 
McKinley, William, message of, 50; letter accepting 

nomination, 50. 
McLaughlin, Prof. Andrew Cunningham, professor 

at University of Michigan, 6, 33; address by, 

6, 33-36; portrait, 33. 

McMaster, John Bach, American historian, 7S; 
United States History, 7S. 

Macaulay, Thomas Babbington, English historian, 
53; reaction against, 51, 61; criticised, 54, 63; 
wrote before Darwin's work appeared, 55; 
American editions of woi'ks of, 61, 71; inves- 
tigations on reading of, 61, 71, 73-74, 77-78; 
boast of, 63; partisan, 75; Miscellanies, 61; 
History of England, 61; Essays, 61. 

Macedonia, ancient European state, oS. 

Madison, Wis., contractors in, xi-xii; capitol at, 

7, So, 96, 102, 105, 107, 114; Seward and party 
at, 25-28; Seward's address in, 27; location, 
27-28; development of West to be studied at, 
35; in former Massachusetts territory, 38; 
chair of history at, 63; view of, SO; streets in, 
SI; territorial legislature at, 95; constitutional 
convention at, 96; Society organized at, 96-97; 
American House in, 96-97; state legislature at, 
97; Draper arrives at, 101; gift from citizens 
of, to University library, 113; librarians at, 
117; Argus, 95; Express, 95, 96. 

Magoon, Richard H., suggests organization of So- 
ciety, 95. 

Mahan, Alfred T.. American historian, 64; readers 
of works of. 73, 75. 

Manville Covering Co., contractors, xii. 

Manuscripts, collected and preserved by Historical 
Society, 23, 105, 108; mediaeval, 30; presented 
to Henry VIII.. 30; Draper collects, 101; in 
museum, 107; genealogical, 108; Society's 
department of, 84-85, 108. 

Manutus, Aldus, Venetian printer, mark of, 82. 



Marquette, Father Jacques, in Wisconsin, 38. 

Marquette county, old colony line cuts, 66. 

Marshall, John, American jurist and historian, 55; 
criticised, 55. 

Marshall, Thomas F., representative from Ken- 
tucky, 67. 

Martin, Morgan L., president of Society, 96; ad- 
dress by, 100. 

Massachusetts (colony and state), less fortunate in 
historical society than Wisconsin, 25; records 
of, lost, 25-26; emigrants fi'om, in West, 26; 
historical societies in, 26; governor of, 26; 
population of Wisconsin compared to, 28; Hoar 
called first citizen of, 30; public libraries in, 
30; distinguished men of. 31; great and gen- 
eral court of, 37; aborigines in, 37; frontiers- 
men, etc., in, 37-38; formerly owner of portion 
of Wisconsin, 38, 65; leader in struggle for na- 
tionality, 40, 43-45; J. Q. Adams's body re- 
moved to, 45; in election of 1848, 46; whipping 
post in, 59; colonial charter of, 65; commis- 
sion appointed by general court, 65-66; con- 
gressional district of, 66 ; J. Q. Adams repre- 
sents, in congress, 66. 

Massachusetts Company, land grant to, 65. 

Massachusetts Historical Society, president of, 6, 
25 ; oldest historical society in United States, 
25. 37; inaugurated comparatively late in his- 
tory of Massachusetts, 25; date of founding, 
26; C. F. Adams addresses, 38; C. F. Adams 
represents, 49; opening of new building of 
(1899), 71; Proceedings, 38. 41, 65. 
May, Thomas Erskine, English historian, 78; Con- 

stitiUional History, 78. 
Mathematics, historical study in, 18; history on 
par with, 33; seminary room, 85; books on, 114. 
Matthews Brothers Mfg. Co., contractors, xi. 
Merivale, Charles, English historian, 53; criticised, 

Mexico, Gulf of, 43; war with, 45, 66-67. 

Michigan (state), Seward in, 26; part of Wiscon- 
sin, 33; French in, 33; emigration into, 43; 
in election of 1848, 46. 

Milman, Henry Hart. English poet and historian, 
53; criticised, 53. 

Milton, John, inspired by Moses, 71; Paradise Lost, 
59. 

Milwaukee, Wis., contractors in, xi-xii; library in, 
13, 119; Seward's party in, 27; in former Mas- 
sachusetts territory, 65; German-Americans in, 
112; gift from citizens of, to University li- 
brary, 112-113; Courier, 95. 



(132) 



I\[il-l\'v] 



INDEX 



Milwaukee Public Library, cost of construction, 
13: storage capacity, 13; a monument, 119. 

Mineral Point, Wis., Democrat, 95. 

Minerva, hill of, 20. 

Mines, in Wisconsin. 9. 

Minnesota (state), natural selection in, G3. 

Mission Ridge, Tenn.. battle on, 47. 

Mississippi (state), war in, 47. See also River 
Mississippi. 

Missouri (state), proclamation freeing slaves in, 
70; pottery from. 105. 

Mitchell, J. W.. contractor, xii. 

Mitford, William, English historian, 53. 

Mommsen, Theodor, German historian, 57; com- 
pared to other historians, 57-58; criticised, 57- 
5S.63; why not read, 74; History of Rome, 57-58. 

Monash-Younker Co., contractors, xii. 

Monroe, James, cabinet of, 44. 

Montgomery, David Henry. American historian. 74. 

Morillo, Gen. Pablo, abolishes slavery in Colom- 
bia, 69. 

Moses, philosophy of, destroyed by Dai-winian the- 
ory, 38; writings of, 51-52, 63; compared to 
Julius Cffisar, 70; superior as poet to Homer, 
70-71; career and influence of, 70-71; Genesis, 
70; Exodus, 70. 

Motley, John Lothrop, American historian, 31, 55; 
criticised, 55, 57; investigations on reading of, 
71, 73; partisan, 75; Diitcli RepuUic, 75; His- 
tory of United Netherlands, 75. 

Mounds, in Wisconsin, 99; in Missouri and Arkan- 
sas, 105. 

Mueller Co., subcontractors, xi. 

NAPOLEON, wars of, 44. 
Nashville, Tenn., siege of, 47. 

New (Newe) England, struggle for nationality in, 
41; influence of, 45-46; conscience, 57; history 
of, written by Palfrey, 57; theology, 57; capi- 
tal of, 65; land grant in, 65. 

New Hampshire Historical Society, founded, 26. 

New .Jersey Historical Society, founded, 26. 

New Orleans, La., library conference at, 119. 

Newspapers, Bible superseded by, 59, 74; history 
in, 73; of Historical Society, S3, 85, 87, 96, 108; 
stacks for, 85. 87, 96; catalogue, 105; import- 
ance of preserving. lOS; sent free to Historical 
Society, 108. 

New York (state), emigrants from, in West, 26; 
influenced by J. Q. Adams, 43; anti-slavery feel- 
ing in, 45; Wisconsin influenced by, 46; Bur- 
roughs in, 59. 



New York (city), library in, 13; Library Jourii.al, 
119; Trlhiuie, 70. 

New York Historical Society, founded, 26. 

Nicolet, Jean, French explorer, 33, 38. 
. Niebuhr, Barthold Georg, German historian and 
philologist. 35, 57; importance of, 35; model in 
history, 63. 

Nineveh, Assyria, libraries in, 29. 

Nippur, Mesopotamia, library at, 29. 

Norfolk county, Mass., freemen of, 66. 

Northwest, Seward in, 26; supports Chicago con- 
vention, 26; explorers in, 33; development of, 
37; natural selection in, 61, 63; documents on, 
lOS. 

Noyes, George H., member of Board of Building 
Commissioners, x. 

Nullification, Calhoun's theory of, 41, 44. 

OCEANS, in modern times, 11. 
Ohio (state), Seward in, 26; emigrations 
into, 43; in election of 1848, 46; represen- 
tative from, in congress, 69. 
"Old Abe," Wisconsin war eagle, 107. 
Orators, Seward as, 27; great American, 31, 50. 
Ordinance of 1787, encourages education, 20. 
Ostensorium (Perrot's), in museum, 105, 107. 
Otis Elevator Co., contractors, si. 
Owen, Prof. Edward T., deposits books in Univer- 
sity lilirary. 112. 
Owen, Robert, social leader in England, material 

on work of, in University library, 112-113. 
Owens. George W., representative from Georgia, 66. 
Oxford, Eng., Mercurius AttUcus, 108. 
Oxley Enos Co.. subcontractors, xi. 

PATjFREY, John Gorham, American historian, 
55; criticised, 57. 

Paris, Matthew, chronologist, 52. 

Paris, Prance, Lowell in, 61. 

Pamphlets, collected by Draper, 101; of Historical 
Society, 102, 107; in University library. 111; 
in astronomical library, 114. 

Parker, Prof. F. A., musical director, 6. 

Parkman, Francis, American historian, 31, 55; crit- 
icised, 57; investigation on reading of, 73-74. 

Pennsylvania (state), nationality in, 41; war in, 
47; representative from, 67. 

Pennsylvania Historical Society, founded, 26. 

Pentateuch, how transmitted, 70; criticised, 70-71. 

Periodicals (magazines), room for, 36, 72, 89; read 
widely, 59, 73-74. 77; in University library, 
113; pharmaceutical, 114. 



(133) 



WL':iCONSIN STATE IIIS'IOBICAL LIBRARY BUILDING 



[Per— Eos 



Perrot. Nicolas, presents soleil to Jesuit mission, 

107. 
Petersburg, Va., deatli-trap at, 47. 
Peterson, H. S., member of University quartette, 6. 
Pfister, Cliarles F., gift from, to University library, 

113. 
Pharmacy, School of, 114. 
Phidias, Greek sculptor, 49. 

Phillip Gross Hardware Co., subcontractors, xi. 
Phillips. Wendell, American orator, 31. 
Philology, books on, 113. 

Philosophy, books on, 30; history defined as con- 
crete, 34; disquisitions on, lacking, 49; how 
expressed by Hebrews, 51; of Bancroft, 55; 
modei-n taste in, 58-59; seminary room, 91. 
Pilgrim's Progress, in libraries, 59; superseded by 

newspapers and periodicals, 74. 
Pinckney, Henry Laurens, slavery report of, 6G. 
Pittsburg Testing Laboratory, inspector of steel, x. 
Pittsburg Plate Glass Co., subcontractors, xi. 
Plutarch, Greek author, 60; Lives, 60. 
Plymouth, Mass., church at, 38; eai'ly settlement at, 

43. 
Plymouth county, Mass., freemen of, 66. 
Poe, Edgar Allen, criticised, 50. 
Poetry, stimulative, 30; decline of, 30; Greeks in, 
49; Hebrews preeminent in, 51; students read, 
75. 
Poets, no great living, 30; great American, 50; 

Moses as, 52, 70-71. 
Pogendorf, Johann Christian, Annalen, IS. 
Political science, defined, 61; value of history in. 
Questions of, 34; not of prime importance, 75; 
seminary room. 86; books on, 113. 
Pollard & Taber, subcontractors, xi. 
Pond, Hon. Levi E., advocates Society building, 

102. 
Pottery, from mounds, in museum, 109. 
Prescott, "William Hickling, American historian, 31, 
55; criticised, 55; investigations on reading of, 
71, 73, 78. 
Printers, public. 49; in various countries, 82. 
Printing press, knowledge diffused by, 58; cheapens 

books, 59; first in Wisconsin, 107. 
Prussia," nationality in, 44. 

Puis, Dr. Arthur J., aids University library, 113. 
Putnam, Dr. Herbert, comments on building, 117. 



OUEBEC, library conference at, 119. 
^.^. Quincy, Mass., Butler at, 27; J. Q. Adams 
buried at, 45; public library at, 73. 



"D ADISSON, Pierre Esprit, French explorer, 38. 
■'-^ Ranke, Leopold von, German historian, 35. 
Reed, George, on constitution committee, 97. 
Regents, of University of Wisconsin, x, 11, 20. 
Rembrandt van Ryn, Paul Harmens, Dutch painter, 

51. 
Renan, Ernest, French historian, 5S; compared to 

Mommsen, 58. 
Republicans, principles of, first enunciated, 46; 

vote in 1848, 46; state convention, 70. 
Rhode Island Historical Society, founded, 26. 
Rhodes, James Ford, history of, popular, 73. 
Richmond, Va., library at, 13. 
Ridpath, John Clark, American historian, 78. 
Ripon College, members of faculty of, in Wisconsin 

Academy, 115. 
River, Charles, land grant on, 65. 
River Concord, church on, 38. 
River Euphrates, centre of civilization on, 10. 
River Fox, wooden anchor found in, 107. 
River Merrimack (Merrymack, Monomack), land- 
grant bounded by, 65; Indian village on, 66. 
River Mississippi, valley of. 10, 35; headwaters of, 

43, 47; documents on regions west of, 108. 
River Nashua, church on, 38. 

River Nile, library on, 7; valley of, centre of civ- 
ilization, 10. 
River Thames, centre of civilization, 10. 
River Tiber, centre of civilization, 10. 
River Tigris, centre of civilization, 10. 
Riverside Press, American printers, mark of, 82. 
Roberts Architectural & Ornamental Iron Co., sub- 
contractors, xi. 
Robertson, James Alexander, prepares index, 125. 
Robertson, John, representative in congress, 66. 
Robertson, William, Scotch historian, 52; criti- 
cised, 52-53. 
Robinson Crusoe, in libraries, 59; superseded by 

newspapers and periodicals, 74. 
Rochester, N. Y., in former Massachusetts terri- 
tory, 65. 
Rollin. Charles, French historian, 60; Aiicient 

History, 60. 
Romans, in literature and art, 52; criticised, 52; 

law of, Mommsen's work on, 57. 
Rome, empire of. 37; title granted from, 40; source 
of safety of, 47; beginnings of, 57; history of, 
57-58. 
Root, Eleazer, helps organize society, 97. 
Rose, Dr. , recommends books for public li- 
brary, 60. 
Rose, George, historian, 77- 



(134) 



Hos— Str] 



INDEX 



Rosenheimer, L. P., member of University quar- 
tette, G. 

Rundle-Spence Manufacturing Co., subcontract- 
ors, xi. 

Russia, commerce witli, 34: slavery in. 40; nation- 
ality in, 44. 



ST. AUGUSTINE, liis "City of God," 74. 
St. Francis Xavier mission, location, 3S. 
Salem, Mass., cliurcli at, 3S. 
Sallust, Roman historian, 52. 
Saltonstall, Sir Ricliard, on Massachusetts, 2G. 
San Francisco, library conference at, 149. 
San Jacinto, battle of (1636), 66. 
San Salvador, discovered by Columbus, 39. 
Scandinavians, in Wisconsin, 49. 
Schools, in Wisconsin, 11, 15-16; needs of, 34; 
study of history necessary in, 34; classical, at 
Athens, 35; committees of, 74; of Commerce, 
113; of Economics, 113. 
Scliouler, .James, American historian, 73. 
Schurz, Carl, comments on McKinley's letter, 50. 
Sclavonia, war in, 44. 

Scofield, Hon. Edward, address by, 6, 15-17. 
Scott, Walter, Scottish novelist and poet, 54. 
Sculpture, elements necessary for permanence in, 

51; Greeks in, 51. 
Secession, logical outgrowth of nullification theory, 
41, 44; doctrine of, in South, 43; slavery move- 
ment, failure of, 43; war of, 102. See also 
Slavery and War of Secession. 
Seward, William H., election tour of, 26; Irish re- 
spect, 26; C. F. Adams accompanies, 26; speech 
of, in Madison, 27-28; as an orator, 27; de- 
scribed, 27 ; prominent, 28. 
Shakespeare, William, 52; history derived from, 
51; in libraries, 59; controversy as to author- 
ship of works of, lOS. 
Shakespeare Society, publications of, 108. 
Shakespeareana, collection of. In Historical library, 

108. 
Sheboygan county. Wis., old colony line near, 66. 
Shelby Electric Co., contractors, xii. 
Sherman, John (statesman), death, 28. 
Sherman, Sergeant John, surveyor, 66. 
Sherman, Gen. William Tecumseh, in War of Se- 
cession, 47. 
Shiloh, Tenn., battle of, 47. 
Siebel, Heinrich von, historian, 77. 
Science, treatises on, lack literary form, 49. 



Slavery, defined, 40; abolished in Great Britain, 
40; in Russia, 40; in America, 40; civil war not 
a question of, 41; immediate cause of war, 41; 
question of, becomes prominent, 41; made a 
pretext, 41; Confederacy based on, 43; taught 
by southern leaders, 43; moral wrong of, 44- 
45; J. Q. Adams confronts Calhoun on issue 
of, 44; leadership in struggle against, 45; pe- 
titions for abolition of, 66; Arkansas consti- 
tution recognizes, 66; question of power of 
congress over, 66-67, 69; Pinckney's report on, 
66; J. Q. Adams's attitude toward, 66-70; war 
because of, predicted, 67; abolished in South 
America, 69; Fremont's proclamation regard- 
ing, 70. 

Smith, A. Hyatt, helps organize Society, 96; presi- 
dent of Society, 96. 

Smith, John Y., helps organize Society, 97; ad- 
dress by, 97. 

Smith, Walter McMynn, librarian University of 
Wisconsin, 79, 111; article by, 79, 111-114. 

Smith. Gen. William R., pioneer Wisconsin lawyer, 
95; helps organize Society, 96-97; president of 
Society, 97; addresses by, 97, 99-100. 

Sober, Prof. Hiram Allen, classical library of, 113. 

Socialists, teachings of, 40. 

Sorel, Charles, French novelist and historian, 77. 

South, opposed to progress, 41; doctrine of state 
sovereignty in, 43. 

South America, abolition of slavery in, 69. 

South Carolina, exponent in national issue, 40-41, 
43-44. 

Spain, nationality in, 41, 44. 

Spanish-American war, relics of, in museum, 107. 

Sparks, Jared, American historian, 31. 

Spooner, Philip, member of University quartette, 6. 

Spottsylvania, Pa., battle at, 47. 

Starck Manufacturing Co., subcontractors, xi. 

State sovereignty, nullification logical outcome of, 
41; theory of, enunciated by Jefferson, 41, 44; 
dominant in South, 43. 

Stein, Heinrich Friedrich Karl von, Prussian 
statesman, 44. 

Stephens. David, subcontractor, xi. 

Stephenson & Studeman, subcontractors, xi. 

Stoughton, William, preaches election sermon 
(1668), 37; text from, 37; force of utterance, 
49. 

Stout, Hon. James H.. president of Board of Build- 
ing Commissioners, x; address by, 6, 13-14. 

Strowger Automatic Telephone Exchange, con- 
tractors, xii. 



(135) 



U'lSCO^'SIN STATE HISTOBICAL LIBEARY BUILDING 



[Swm — Uni 



Sumner, Charles, works cited, 41, 70; speech by, 

70. 
Supreme court, justices of, 107. 
Sutherland, Thomas W., helps organize Society, 

96; secretary of Society, 96. 
Syracuse, N. Y., in former IWassachusetts territory, 

65. 



I^ACITUS, Roman historian, 51, 52; compared 
to other historians, 52; criticised, 57, 63. 

Tank, Mrs. Otto, gives library to Society, IDS. 

Tariff, trouble over, 41. 

Taxes, in Wisconsin, 16. 

Taylor, Gen. Zachary, presidential nominee, 45; 
slave holder, 45; as president, 45-4G; charac- 
ter, 45-4G; result of nomination, 46. 

Teachers, importance of, IS; specialization among, 
74. 

Tennessee, the war in, 47. 

Tennyson, Alfred, English poet, 52. 

Texas, independence and annexation of, 66. 

Thackeray, William Makepeace, English novelist, 
54. 

Thebes, Egypt, memorials on walls of, 30. 

Theology, books on, 60; Hebrew, 70-71. 

Thiers, Louis Adolphe, French statesman, 35; de- 
fines freedom, 35. 

Thirlwall, Connop, English bishop and historian, 
53; criticised, 53. 

Thomas, George Henry, in War of Secession, 47. 

Thucydides, Greek historian, 49; permanence of 
work of, 51; father of history, 52; Gibbon com- 
pared to, 52; criticised, 52, 57, 63; principle 
of, 54. 

Thwaites, Reuben Gold, editor of present volume, 
title-page; member of Board of Building 
Commissioners, x; succeeds Draper, 10, 102; 
acknowledgment made to, 10, 38; address 
and articles by, 6, 21-23, 79, 81-93, 95-104, 
105-109; editorial notes by, 27-28; pays trib- 
ute to Draper, 28; assistant secretary, 102. 

Tintoretto, Giacomo Robusti, Italian painter, 51. 

Titian (Tiziano Vecellio), Venetian painter, 51. 

Tuberculosis, discoveries concerning, 119. 

Turner, Joseph Mallord William, English painter, 
51. 

LTNION, appellation of United States, 69, S4: 
Lincoln standard-bearer of, 26; disorganiza- 
tion of. sought, 41; Wisconsin admitted in- 
to, 44-45; supported by J. Q. Adams and 



Webster, 44; denounced by Garrison, 44-45; 
supported by Wisconsin, 45-46; Arkansas 
admitted into, 66; historical material on, 
109; endurance of, 61; towns of, in former 
Massachusetts territory, 65; war with Mex- 
ico, 66; annexes Texas, 66. 

United States, wonderful progress of, 37; natural 
selection in, 37; nationality in, 40-41, 44; con- 
stitution of, 44, 67; money refunded by, 102; 
largest Dutch library in, 108; large newspaper 
collections in, 108; material for history of, 
109; social movement in, 112. 

Universities, elements in, 18; library necessary to, 
IS; faculties and students in, IS; commercial 
and industrial education in, 34; not becoming 
technical, 34; study of history, necessary in, 
34; German, 35; theory in, 51. Hee also Col- 
leges and Schools. 

University Hall, University library in. 111. 

University of Strassburg, founded, 18. 

University of Wisconsin, consulting engineers 
from, x; faculty of, at dedication, 5; and the 
Society, 6, 18-20; presidents of, 6, 103; double 
Quartette of, 6; future of, 11, 16; regents of, 11, 
20, 81, 100, 111; location of, 15, 22, 27, 81; 
aided by state, 16; rank of, 16; agricultural de- 
partment, 16, 114, 119; students at, 19-20, 103, 
107, 111; thanks in name of, 20; shares ex- 
penses of new library building, 22; C. F. 
Adams, Sr., visits, 26; uncompleted, 27; state 
grants land to, 27; growth of, 28, 111; gymna- 
sium, 30, 81; teaching of history at, 33; ad- 
vantages of, 36; views of, 80; in new libi-ary 
building, 81; lower campus of, 81; deeds land, 
SI, 103; seminary rooms, 85-87, 91; appropria- 
tion made to, 103; instructors of, use Histor- 
ical library, 107; publications of. 111; aid re- 
quested from alumni and friends of, 113; 
engineering building. 113; various depart- 
ments in, 114; members of faculty of. in Wis- 
consin Academy. 115; work of, 119; congratu- 
lated, 121: Bulletin, 115. 

University of Wisconsin Library, where housed, 
S, 81, 107, 111. 113. 115, 119-120; in 1880, 27; 
article on, 79, 111-114; new building fitted to 
needs of, S3; in seminary rooms, 87; delivery 
department, 89; catalogue room, 91; offices, 91; 
building for, suggested, 103; supported by 
state, 107; beginnings and growth, 111-112; 
early reports on. Ill; catalogue of books in, 
111; gifts to. 111-113; number of boolvs and 
pamphlets in. 111; outgrows quarters. 111-112; 
gifts requested, 113; art department, 113; aim. 



(13G) 



Uph-Wis] -'^ 

113; periodicals in, 113 114; use ot, 113; wlien 
open. 113; special branches in, 113-114; refer- 
ence books in, 114. 

LTpham. IXin A. .T., helps organize Society. 96. 

Upham, William, appoints commissioners, x; ex- 
governor of Wisconsin, 17; thanks extended to, 
20. 

Utley, Honry M.. comments on Iniilding, 120. 



VAN DER MEULEN, Rev. R. J., library of, 108. 
See also Tank Library. 

Vetlder, Elihu, design by, 82. 

Venetian Mosaic Co., subcontractors, xi. 

Vermont, in election of 1848, 46. 

Vicksburg. Miss., movement on, 47. 

Vilas, William F., member of Board of Building 
Commissioners, x. 

Virgil, Roman poet, 52. 

Virginia, leads South, 40-41; loses leadership, 41, 
43; war in, 47. 

Virginia State Library, cost of construction, 13. 

Vogel, Fred., gift to University library, 113. 

Vogel, Mrs. Fred., gift to University libi-ary, 113. 

Voltaire, Frangcis Marie Arouet de, French histo- 
rian, .51, 52. 



WALDSTEIN, Charles, director of classical 
school at Athens, 35. 

Walworth county. Wis., mentioned, 100. 

War of 1812-15, close of, 108. 

War of Secession, follows Lincoln's election, 26; 
not question of slavery, 41; slavery immediate 
cause of, 41; Cass in, 45; Wisconsin troops in, 
46-47; C. F. Adams, Sr., in England during, 
50; J. Q. Adams predicts, 67, 69-70; outbreak 
of, 70. 

Wars, preparation for peace, 11; causes of, 40; aid 
of, invoked, 44; speech on, 66-67; congress 
may declare, 67; laws of. 69. 

Washburn Astronomical Observatory, library in, 
113; Puhlications, 115. 

Washington, D. C, Sherman dies at, 28; J. Q. 
Adams dies at, 45; capitol at, 28; Wisconsin 
senator at. 46: Xatioiial Intelligencer, 67. 

Washington, George, first inaugural address of, 50; 
Irving's life of, 55. 

Waukesha, Wis., library conference at, 117. 

Webster, Daniel, American orator, 31; exponent of 
nationality, 43-45; view of Taylor's nomina- 
tion, 45; literary form of, 50; Reply lo Hai/ne,50. 



West, pioneers of, 23; life in, 27; Bryce before 
legislature in, 35; emigration to, 37; Wiscon- 
sin leads, 45-46; natural selection in, 46; en- 
vironment in, free, 64; educative tendencies in, 
74; military department of, 70; private li- 
Ijraries in, 107. 
We.?tern Reserve (Ohio), influenced by .1. Q. 

Adams, 43; anti-slavery feeling in, 45. 
Whigs, leaders of, 45; in England, 54. 
Whipping-posts, in Massachusetts, 59. 
Whittier, John Greenleaf, American poet, 31, 74. 
Willard, Captain Simon, member of land commis- 
sion, 65. 
Wilier Manufacturing Co., contractors, xii. 
Williams, E. R., member of University quartette, 6. 
Williamson, E. M., helps organize Society, 97; 

treasurer of Society, 96, 99. 
Winthrop, John, governor of Massachusetts colony, 

25. 
Wisconsin (state and territory), laws of, x; gov- 
ernors, 6, 15, 104; commerce in, 9; cities in, 
9; a young state, 9, 11; population, 9, 11, 28; 
prosperity, 9, 16, 119; praise due, 9-10; money 
appropriated in, 10; liberality of, 10; future 
of, 10; legislature of, 5, 10, 20, 22, 95, 101-104, 
107-108; civilization in, 10; meaning of name, 
10; mixed population of, 10, 49; size, 11; pos- 
sesses no ruins, 11; untrammeled by traditions, 
11; educational and other institutions in, 11, 
15-16, 22, 29, 31, 63, 117, 119; Badger state, 15, 
119; motto, 15; laws encourage education, 16; 
care of criminals in, 16; expenditure of public 
money in, 16; progress of, 16, 27; taxes in, 16; 
more fortunate than Massachusetts, 25; Sew- 
ard in. 26; grants land to University, 27; pre- 
eminence of, 31; part of Michigan, 33; con- 
gratulations to, 35, 120-121; history of, 37; por- 
tion of, once part of Massachusetts, 38, 65-66; 
explorers in, 38: influence of, on history, 39; 
natural selection in, 39, 47-48, 63; ancient in- 
habitants ot, 39; enters union, 40, 44-45; na- 
tionality in, 41, 47, 49; political attitude of, 43; 
leads West, 45-46; supports union, 45; former 
name, 45; declares Fugitive Slave Law null 
and void, 46; in presidential elections, 46; the 
Vermont of West, 46; demands resignation of 
senator, 46; influenced by New York and New 
England, 46; in Civil War, 46-47, 92; individu- 
ality in, 47; boundaries of, 47; seat of progress 
and education, 49; historian of future in, 63; 
state documents of, 83: early history of, 95, 
100; papers in, 95; first state superintendent of 



(137) 



WISCONSIN STATE HISTORICAL LIBRA El\ BUILDING 



[Wis 



public instruction in, 97; counties in, 98-99; 
mounds and eartli works in, 99; supreme court 
of, 100; Draper comes to, 101; war tax refund- 
ed to, 102; veterans of. 102; land deeded to, 
103; officials of, 104; bibliography of authors 
of, 105; material for history of, 105; archteo- 
logical remains in, 105; first printing press in, 
107; war history of, 107; gift of citizens of, 
112-113; a public benefactor, 117, 119; travel- 
ing libraries in, 119; broad and liberal spirit 
in, 119; agriculture in, 119. 

Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters, 
meetings, where held, 91; signs petition, 103; 
defined, 115; members, 115; the library — ar- 
ticle on, 79, 115-116; new quarters for, 
sought, 103; where located, 113; future of, 115; 
supplements other libraries, 115; librarian, 
115; exchanges, 115-116; aim, 116; publica- 
tions, 115; Transactions, 115. 

Wisconsin Editorial Association, letter to, 104. 

Wisconsin Free Library Commission, located in 
capitol, 85; work of, 119. 

Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey, 
Bulletins, 115. 

Wisconsin State Historical Library Building, east- 
ern facade, frontispiece; Board of Building 
Commissioners, x; contractors on, xi-xii; 
hymn for opening of, 3, 0; date of dedication, 
5; general reading room, 5, 76, SI, 89, 92-93, 
97, 104, 115, 119-120; museum, 5, 23, 31, 78, 
84, 88, 92-93, 95, 100, 105, 107, 110, 118; build- 
ing commission, 10; money voted for, 10, 
17; criticised, 10, 17, 19, 117-121; a monument, 
10, 28, 120; splendidly equipped, 10; most 
costly historical building in America, 10; free- 
dom of access to, 11; collections in, 11, 19, 35, 
91; east front, 12; cost of construction and 
equipment, 13, 22, 103, 119-121; storage ca- 
pacity, 13, 87-88; economy in construction, 13- 
14; dedicated to higher education, 14; location, 
16, 81; reason for, 19; thanks extended to ar- 
chitects of, 20; visitors to, 22; expenses of 
maintenance heavy, 22; rear view, 24; libraries 
installed in, 31 ; south elevation, 32 ; periodical 
room, 36, 68, 72, 89, 113; main entrance, 48; 
corridor, 56, 114; elevator, 62; along east ter- 
race, 64; east loggia, 68, 92, 121; south gallery, 
78; description, 79, 81-93; as seen from capitol, 
80; voted by legislature, 81; entrances to, 81, 
S3; mosaic pavement, S2; architects, 83; base- 
ment, S3; first floor, S3-S6; offices, 84, SS, 100; 
plans, 84-88; seminary rooms, S5-S6, 91, 94, 



112; second floor, 86-91; storage capacity, 87; 
projected addition, 87-88 ; delivery department, 
89, 106; art department, 91; third floor, 91-92; 
lecture hall, 91-92; fourth floor, 92; cata- 
loguing department, 100; stairway, 109; li- 
braries in, 112, 115; exhibition rooms in, 113; 
art departments in, 113; window in, 116; li- 
brarians visit, 117; advantages of, 117; prob- 
lems in construction of, 120. 
Wisconsin State Historical Society, members of, on 
Board of Building Commissioners, x; members 
of. at dedication, 5; officers, 5-6, 10, 86, 88, 96- 
97, 99, 101; greetings from sister societies, 6, 
25-28; greetings from sister libraries, 6, 29-31; 
receptions given by, 6; Butler, one of oldest 
members, 7; influence, 7-8; trustee of state, 
8, 103, 104, 107; annual meeting of 1895, 10; 
early members of, dead, 21; age, 21; state aid 
necessary to, 21; official recognition, 21; ad- 
junct of education, 21; aid asked for, 21; early 
years of, 21-22; politicians try to control, 22; 
widely known to scholars, 22; growth and 
progress, 22, 28, 101-102; needs of, 22-23; 
shares expenses with University, 22; work and 
scope of, 23, 79, 105-109; success, 23; future, 
23, 26; inaugurated early in history of state, 
25; stimulating example of, 26; when founded, 
26; C. P. Adams, Sr., visits, 26; in 1S60, 27; 
when homeless, 28; congratulated, 35, 120- 
121; invites C. F. Adams, Jr., to make address, 
49; brief history, 79, 95-104; controls new 
building, SI; new building of, 81-93; quarters 
of, in new building, 91; meetings, where held, 
91; first suggestion for, 95; organization urged, 
95; aim and object, 95, 105; first organization, 
96-97; first meeting for organization, 96; first 
annual meeting, 96; no records of early meet- 
ings, 96; second organization, 97-100; failure 
of first organization, 97; records of, 97; adop- 
tion of name, 97; constitution adopted, 97; roll 
of early members, 98-99; business of first 
meeting, 99; reorganization, 101-103; new con- 
stitution adopted, 101; charter for, drafted, 
101; secures room in church, 101-102; removal 
to capitol, 102; material of, stored in, 102; new 
building advocated, 102-103; annual report of 
executive committee. 102-103; appropriation 
granted to, 103-104; and state, 103-104; free 
from partisan control, 103; members of, 103- 
104; legislature may investigate, 104; ex-officio 
members of committee, 104; attitude of legis- 
lature toward, 104; formerly chartered, 104; 



(138) 



AVis-Zin] 



INDEX 



constitution cited, 105; State library in charge 
of, 107; criticisms of new building of, 117-121; 
Collections, 101, 102, 104-105,116; Proceedings, 
101, 105, 116; Catalogues, 104-105; Books on 
V. S. Civil War and Slavery, 105; Bibliography 
of Wisconsin Authors, 105 ; Catalogue of Neivs- 
paper Files, 105; Biilletins, 116. 

Wisconsin State Historical Society Library, 
growth, 22, 101-102, 107; needs of, 22-23; 
splendors of, 29; original material in, 35, 105, 
lOS; newspapers in, 83, IDS; duplicates in, 85; 
genealogical collections in, 91. 108; staff, 92; 
early, 95, 100; librarians, 100-101; Draper col- 
lects material for, 101-102; location, 101-102; 
Americana in, 102; project to bouse with other 
libraries, 103; special lines in, 105; descrip- 
tion, 107-109; supported by state, 107; for gen- 
eral reference, 107; University students use, 
107; miscellaneous books of State library 
transferred to, 107; number of titles in, 107; 
Dutch library given to, 107-108; maps and 
manuscripts in, 108; Draper collection. 108; 
public documents, 108; Shakespeareana in, 
108; local American history in, 109; art de- 
partment, 101, 113 ; supplemented by library 
of Academy, 115; exchanges received at, 116. 

Wisconsin Historical Society Museum, where lo- 
cated, 5, 84, 92; high educational value, 22- 



23; needs of, 23, 105; views and plans, 31, 78, 
88. 93, 110, 118; skylights in floor of, 89; de- 
scribed, 92-93, 105-107; relics and curiosities 
in, 92-93, 100-102, 105, 107; removal, 102; new 
quarters for, agitated, 103; Draper collects ma- 
terial for, 101; how supported, 105; ethnologi- 
cal department, 105, 110, 118; number of visit- 
ors annually, 105 ; photographs and engravings 
in, 107; books and manuscripts exhibited in, 
107. 

Wise, Henry A., representative from Virginia, 07. 

Wood, Lewis N., address by, 100. 

Woodman Astronomical Library, branch of Univer- 
sity library, 113. 

Wordsworth. William, cited, 20. 



yj.. 



OPHON, Greek historian, 52. 



\,^ALE Uni 
lyle in. 



liversity, readers of Gibbon and Car- 
74. 

Youugstown Steel Roofing Supply Co., subcontrac- 
tors, xi, 



ZINKEISEN, Dr. Frank 
chased, 112. 
Zoology, books on, 114. 



E., library of, pur- 



(139) 



\N 11 1802 






::^^^ife- 






Nf 



%t5^ 



s^-'f 



>^ 



R^#: 



M^ 



>. 




'^^^^^^^:^^ 



^^^i^.A 









'i.'-m}' 
















-f-^^ ^''i; '^^^^^i^^^^'ii^''"' ""'^'""^ 



} 3^- ^i^^ u^^^, ^^ ; (^ t^ 3V^^ ^"^ 3Af 1^' tl 



sfe+ 



=r'^s-7^VLrri;j 



.*^ ^ 



t^^ «^ 






_'>t^i^^ 






1^: 



'^^4^ 






f'l- 












LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



019 985 395 8 






